Of fish and men: An economic analysis of the Galapagos Marine Reserve resources management plan.

摘要

As policy makers work to balance the needs of growing populations with the desire to preserve the natural environment upon which these growing populations depend, one approach has been to develop regional management plans which include ecotourism activities. Typically, these strategies incorporate some sort of zonification regime, wherein an open access resource is divided into regions set aside for specific uses such as traditional resource extraction and tourism activities. It is believed that the increased revenues generated by tourist activities will offset the losses incurred by reducing the available exploitable resource base for the extractive users, while at the same time creating economic incentives to preserve or protect the environment.;The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impacts of the establishment of a marine reserve on both the extractive and non-extractive sectors dependent upon the natural resources in a highly unique and isolated marine ecosystem. The theoretical model is an extension of a fixed labor model first presented by Weitzman. We extend the model to have two sectors using two fixed-supply inputs, and discuss the implications of various allocation policies. Using data collected from household interviews of fishermen, and contingent valuation surveys of tourists, we calculate a rough cost/benefit analysis of the zonification plan. One reason for excessive fishing effort in poorer countries is that opportunity costs are very low, and there are few alternative livelihood sources. This refocuses the discussion on the importance of ecotourism opportunities.;The Galapagos Islands present a unique situation for analyzing the impacts to various user groups, and in particular to fishermen and the tourism industry, of the establishment of a marine reserve to manage access to valuable marine resources for several reasons. In 1998, the Ecuadorian government enacted the "Special Law for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Province of Galapagos." The provisions of the Special Law are widespread, and focus on several principles including: limiting migration to the province, the development of policies which encourage local residents and institutions to capture more of the rent generated from the lucrative tourism industry, and the establishment of the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR).