WWF Cover photo - Soufriere Marine Management Association ...

Malleret-King’s (2000) study is more detailed than Emmerton and Tessema’s (2001) and draws on an extensivebase of work with local communities. Contrary to their findings, Malleret-King confirms what is often suggestedabout the use of no-take areas, that one of the major benefits to a local community will be income from increasedtourism. However, tourism is often seasonal. In Kisite the low tourist season corresponded with the bad fishingseason, thus exacerbating seasonal fluctuations of income and opportunity (there is a similar pattern in theSoufrière Marine Management Area in St Lucia, with the more lucrative offshore fishing season correspondingwith the best tourist season). Malleret-King (2000) points out the importance for tourism development inassociation with a marine reserve to be approached with sensitivity to possible environmental and social impactsof that development. Caution is needed in the extent to which communities become reliant on what can be afickle industry.Key points• Fish biomass has increased in the Mombasa and Kisite Marine National Parks since they have beenprotected, and they have higher fish biomass than comparable unprotected and partially protected areasnearby.• At Mombasa CPUE increased but overall catch decreased due to a reduction in the number of fishers.• At Mombasa there is spillover of fish from the park to adjacent fishing grounds, with an estimated range ofinfluence of a few hundred metres to 2km from the park.• The strongest spillover effects were observed for moderately mobile fish families, such as rabbitfish,emperors and surgeonfish.• Variability in fish catches in adjacent fishing grounds reduced in response to the Mombasa Marine NationalPark.• Marine parks at Mombasa and Kisite have promoted tourism, and have slowed the decline of adjacentfisheries, compared to rapidly declining unprotected fisheries.• Fishers in the vicinity of Kisite MNP have higher household food security if they fish near to the park, whilefishers further away did not do so well, and were also less likely to derive additional income from tourism.• Enforcement can be made effective by logistical details such as the proximity of enforcement offices.• Benefits from marine reserves in Kenya are not shared equally amongst users, and those who lost outinitially do not necessarily benefit most from either increased fish CPUE or from increased tourismopportunities.• Kisite generates significant income from tourism but little of this revenue returns to the area. The park needsmore money for day to day running and more money should come back to the fishing community.Thanks to Stephen Mangi, Tim McClanahan, Lynda Rodwell and Maggie Watson.ReferencesEmerton, L. and Tessema, Y. (2001) Economic constraints to the management of marine protected areas: thecase of the Kisite Marine National Park and Mpunguti Marine National Reserve, Kenya. IUCN – The WorldConservation Union, Eastern Africa Regional Office.Glaesel, H. (1997) Fishers, parks and power: the socio-environmental dimensions of marine resource declineand protection on the Kenyan coast. PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA.Grandcourt, E., Andrianarivo, C., Rene de Roland, L. and Rajaonarison, R. (2001) Status and management of themarine protected areas of Madagascar. International Coral Reef Action Network, East African Component(ICRAN project UNEP/FAO) MT/1100-99-70.Malleret-King, D. (2000) A food security approach to marine protected areas impacts on surrounding fishingcommunities: the case of Kisite Marine National Park in Kenya. PhD Thesis, University of Warwick, UK.McClanahan, T.R. and Obura, D. (1995) Status of Kenyan coral reefs. Coastal Management 23, 57-76.McClanahan, T.R. and Kaunda-Arara, B. (1996) Fishery recovery in a coral-reef marine park and its effect onthe adjacent fishery. Conservation Biology 10, 1187-1199.McClanahan, T.R. and Mangi, S. (2000) Spillover of exploitable fishes from a marine park and its effect in theadjacent fishery. Ecological Applications 10, 1792-1805.73