Socioeconomic information for managing fisheries in the Negril Marine Park paper presented at the 58th annual meeting of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI), 7-11 November 2005, San Andres, Colombia

Peña, María.

Blackman, K.

Hanson, C.

McConney, Patrick.

Miller, M.

Alicea, Eileen.

United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

Coral Reef Conservation Program (U.S.)

Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society

Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, Meeting, (58th : 2005 : San Andres, Colombia)

United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

Coral Reef Conservation Program (U.S.)

Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society

2005

The Negril Marine Park (NMP) was declared a marine protected area (MPA) in 1998. It comprises 160 square kilometers of coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, beaches and cliffs at the western end of Jamaica, and is the marine component of the larger Negril Environmental Protection Area (EPA) that includes five watersheds and a major wetland (the Great Morass). The NMP is co-managed by the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society (NCRPS), a multistakeholder non-governmental organization, under a delegation instrument signed by the government of Jamaica in 2002. Government policy emphasizes effective conservation and sustainable livelihoods as key management goals. Fishing is second only to tourism as the major marine economic activity in the NMP. However many habitats are severely degraded, and the park is heavily fished in inshore areas by people suspected to be living in or near poverty. Research was conducted in 2004 and 2005 to incorporate socioeconomic information on these people into the first fisheries management plan (FMP) for the NMP. The SocMon Caribbean methodology was used. This included secondary data analysis, interviews with key informants, a survey of households in ten settlements in and bordering the NMP, and validation workshops to confirm the findings with participants while promoting stakeholder involvement in management. Information on education, perceptions of resource status, management responsibility and participation, communication, interactions between fisheries and tourism and among fishers, income sources and livelihood strategies was incorporated into the fisheries management plan. Incorporating socioeconomic information in marine protected area and fisheries management is highly recommended, especially in situations where conservation decisions are likely to impact negatively on livelihoods, and mitigation measures or alternatives need to be developed with the resource users".

Coral reef conservation

Fishery management

Management

Marine parks and reserves

Marine resources conservation

Social aspects

Jamaica

Negril

CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System)

Professional Paper

The Negril Marine Park (NMP) was declared a marine protected area (MPA) in 1998. It comprises 160 square kilometers of coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, beaches and cliffs at the western end of Jamaica, and is the marine component of the larger Negril Environmental Protection Area (EPA) that includes five watersheds and a major wetland (the Great Morass). The NMP is co-managed by the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society (NCRPS), a multistakeholder non-governmental organization, under a delegation instrument signed by the government of Jamaica in 2002. Government policy emphasizes effective conservation and sustainable livelihoods as key management goals. Fishing is second only to tourism as the major marine economic activity in the NMP. However many habitats are severely degraded, and the park is heavily fished in inshore areas by people suspected to be living in or near poverty. Research was conducted in 2004 and 2005 to incorporate socioeconomic information on these people into the first fisheries management plan (FMP) for the NMP. The SocMon Caribbean methodology was used. This included secondary data analysis, interviews with key informants, a survey of households in ten settlements in and bordering the NMP, and validation workshops to confirm the findings with participants while promoting stakeholder involvement in management. Information on education, perceptions of resource status, management responsibility and participation, communication, interactions between fisheries and tourism and among fishers, income sources and livelihood strategies was incorporated into the fisheries management plan. Incorporating socioeconomic information in marine protected area and fisheries management is highly recommended, especially in situations where conservation decisions are likely to impact negatively on livelihoods, and mitigation measures or alternatives need to be developed with the resource users".

2005

CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System)

Library

Public Domain

1858

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/10856