Frédérique Alban

Marine Protected Areas: SOCIO-ECONOMY – Assessing the impact of marine protected areas on society's well-being: an economic perspective

Introduction From an economic point of view, marine protected areas (MPAs) may be regarded as public investments in marine ecosystems conservation. As such, the basic question raised by their economic assessment is to determine how they modify societys well-being. During the twentieth century, two types of methodologies have been developed for assessing the impact of public investments on societys well-being (Benard, 1985): cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and multicriteria analysis (MCA). The major difference between these methodologies lies in the type of metrics used. While CBA relies on a single metric (money), MCA is multidimensional, taking into account variables that are expressed in various units (monetary, physical, qualitative,…). In this respect, MCA belongs to the same paradigm as indicators-based methods that have been recently developed for the monitoring of MPAs (e.g., Hockey and Branch, 1997; Pomeroy et al ., 2004; Ojeda-Martinez et al ., 2009). But the purpose of MCA, as well as of CBA, is not merely descriptive: these methodologies are intended to help decision-makers in the selection of public investment projects, which requires prioritization. In this respect, MCA is more complex than CBA since it uses variables that are, by nature, incommensurate. Several techniques have been developed to overcome this difficulty (e.g., Keeney and Raiffa, 1976; Roy, 1978; Saaty, 1980), but all of them retain an element of arbitrariness. As a result, CBA is usually considered by economists as the orthodox method for the evaluation of public investment projects.

Influence of settings management and protection status on recreational uses and pressures in marine protected areas

Coastal populations and tourism are growing worldwide. Consequently outdoor recreational activity is increasing and diversifying. While Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are valuable for mitigating anthropogenic impacts, recreational uses are rarely monitored and studied, resulting in a lack of knowledge on users practices, motivation and impacts. Based on boat counts and interview data collected in New Caledonia, we i) explored factors affecting user practices and motivations, ii) constructed fine-scale pressure indices covering activities and associated behaviors, and iii) assessed the relationships between user practices and site selection. User practices were found to depend on protection status, boat type and user characteristics. Pressure indices were higher within no-take MPAs, except for fishing. We found significant relationships between user practices and settings characteristics. In the context of increasing recreational uses, these results highlight options for managing such uses through settings management without jeopardizing the social acceptance of MPAs or the attainment of conservation goals.