Community’s Perspectives towards Marine Protected Area in Perhentian Marine Park, Malaysia

Gazi Md. Nurul Islam, Tai Shzee Yew, Kusairi Mohd Noh, Aswani Farhana Mohd Noh

Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.

DOI: 10.4236/ojms.2014.42007                

Abstract

The Perhentian Islands located in the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia. They are well-known for their rich coral reef ecosystems. Marine resources of Malaysia have been overexploited in general due to overfishing and other development activities. Such no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) were established in Malaysia including Perhentian Islands Marine Park to enable overexploited marine resources to recover and to conserve coral reef ecosystems. This paper examines the current level of activities causing damages to the coral reef habitats in the Perhentian MPA. This study used paired comparison method to elicit the perception of the local stakeholders on the activities harmful to the marine habitats. The results of the analysis showed that various respondent groups had similar preference rankings on the harmful activities: littering, discarding fishing equipments, excess fishing and too many divers that cause damage to the habitats in the MPA area. The findings suggest that policy makers should take cognizance of the local stakeholders’ concern in planning and designing of marine protected areas in Malaysia.

Keywords

Marine Protected Areas; Tourism; Overfishing; Preference Ranking; Peninsular Malaysia

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Alban, F. and Boncoeur, J. (2006) Assessing the Impact of Marine Protected Areas on Recreational Uses of a Marine Ecosystem: The Case of Scuba Diving. In: Proceedings of the IFFET Conference, IFFET, Portsmouth, 8p.
[2]	Roberts, C.M. and Hawkins, J.P. (2000) Fully Protected Marine Reserves: A Guide. Endangered Seas Campaign. World Wildlife Fund, Washington DC and University of York, York.
[3]	Gell, F. and Roberts, C. (2000) Benefits beyond Boundaries: The Fishery effects of marine Reserves and Fishery Closures. WWF-US, Washington DC.
[4]	Kelleher, G., Bleakley, C. and Wells, S. (1995) A Global Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. World Bank, Washington DC.
[5]	Lauck, T., Clark, C., Mangel, M. and Munro, G. (1998) Implementing the Precautionary Principle in Fisheries Management through Marine Protected Areas. Ecological Applications, 8, s72-s78. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2641364
[6]	Guénette, S. and Pitcher, T.J. (1999) An Age-Structured Model Showing the Benefits of Marine Reserves against Overexploitation. Fisheries Research, 39, 295-303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(98)00173-8
[7]	Russ, G.R. and Alcala, A.C. (2003) Marine Reserves: Rates and Patterns of Recovery and Decline of Predatory Fish 1983-2000. Ecological Applications, 13, 1553-1565. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/01-5341
[8]	Gaylord, B., Gaines, S.D., Siegel, D.A. and Carr, M.H. (2005) Marine Reserves Exploit Population Structure and Life History in Potentially Improving Fishery Yields. Ecological Applications, 15, 2180-2191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/04-1810
[9]	Harborne, A., Fenner, D., Bames, A., Beger, M., Harding, S. and Roxburgh, T. (2000) Status Report on Coral Reefs of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Department of Fisheries Malaysia, Sabah.
[10]	Department of Marine Park (2012) Visitors in Perhentian Island. Department of Marine Park Office, Terengganu. (unpublished data)
[11]	Wattage, P., Glenn, H., Mardle, S., Van Rensburg, T., Grehan, A. and Foley, N. (2011) Economic Value of Conserving Deep-Sea Corals in Irish Waters: A Choice Experiment Study on Marine Protected Areas. Fisheries Research, 107, 59-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2010.10.007
[12]	Tamblyn, A., Turner, C., O’Malley, R., Weaver, N., Hughes, T., Hardingham, S. and Roberts, H. (2005) Malaysia Tropical Forest Conservation Project, Report of the Perhentian Island. Coral Cay Conservation Ltd., London, SW19 2JG.
[13]	Burke, L., Selig, L. and Spalding, M. (2002) Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia. World Resources Institute, Washington DC.
[14]	Halpern, B. (2003) The Impact of Marine Reserves: Do Reserves Work and Does Reserve Size Matter? Ecological Applications, 13, 117-137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2003)013[0117:TIOMRD]2.0.CO;2
[15]	Day, J. (2008) The Need and Practice of Monitoring, Evaluating and Adapting Marine Planning and Management E-Lessons from the Great Barrier Reef. Marine Policy, 32, 823-831. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2008.03.023
[16]	Mora, C., Andrefouet, S., Costello, M.J., Kranenburg, C., Rollo, A., Veron, J., Gaston, K.J. and Myers, R.A. (2006) Coral Reefs and the Global Network of Marine Protected Areas. Science, 312, 1750-1751. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1125295
[17]	Jameson, S.C., Tupper, M.H. and Ridley, J.M. (2002) The Three Screen Doors: Can Marine “Protected” Areas be Effective? Marine Pollution Bulletin, 44, 1177-1183. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00258-8
[18]	Tun, K., Chou, L.M., Cabanban, A. and Tuan, V.S. (2004) “Status of Coral Reefs,” Coral Reef Monitoring and Management in Southeast Asia. In: Wilkinson, C., Ed., Status of Coral Reefs of the World, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Queensland, 235-275.
[19]	Gopinath, N. and Puvanesuri, S.S. (2006) Marine Capture Fisheries. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 9, 215-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14634980600721086
[20]	Chuenpagdee, R., Fraga, J. and Euan, J. (2002) Community’s Perspective toward Marine Reserve: A Case Study of San Felipe, Yucatan, Mexico. Coastal Management, 30, 183-191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/089207502753504706
[21]	Chuenpagdee, R. (1998) Damage Schedules for Thai Coastal Areas: An Alternative Approach to Assessing Environmental Values. EEPSEA Research Report Series, Singapore.
[22]	Chuenpagdee, R., Knetsch, J.L. and Brown, T.C. (2001) Environmental Damage Schedules: Community Judgments of Importance and Assessments of Losses. Land Economics, 77, 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3146976
[23]	Quah, E., Choa, E. and Tan, K.C. (2006) Use of Damage Schedules in Environmental Valuation: The Case of Urban Singapore. Applied Economics, 38, 1501-1512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00036840500399842
[24]	White, A.T. (1986) Marine Reserves: How Effective as Management Strategies for Philippines, Indonesian and Malaysian Coral Reef Environments? Ocean Management, 10, 137-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0302-184X(86)90019-3
[25]	Kaza, S. (1988) Community Involvement in Marine Protected Areas. Oceans, 31, 75-81.
[26]	Kenchington, R.A. (1988) Managing Reefs and Inter-Reef Environments and Resources for Sustained Exploitive, Extractive and Recreational Uses. Proceedings of the 6th International Coral Reef Symposium, 1, 81-87.
[27]	Cinner, J. (2005) Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Customary Marine Tenure in the Indo-Pacific. Ecology and Society, 10, 1-14.
[28]	Sumaila, U.R., Guennette, S., Alder, J. and Chuenpagdee, R. (2000) Addressing Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Using Marine Protected Areas. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 57, 752-760. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.2000.0732
[29]	Chuenpagdee, R., Julia, F., Ricardo, T. and Jorge, E. (2001) Importance of Marine Protected Areas and their Benefits: the Local Community’s Perspectives. In: R. Sumaila, Eds., Economic of Marine Protected Areas, Fisheries Center Research Reports, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada, The Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
[30]	David, H.A. (1988) The Method of Paired Comparisons. Charles Griffin & Company, London.
[31]	Dunn-Rankin, R. (1983) Scaling Methods. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey.
[32]	Siegel, S. and Castellan, N.J. (1988) Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
[33]	Gossling, S. (2003) Tourism and Development in Tropical Islands: Political Ecology Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., Cheltenham.
[34]	Salmond, L.J. (2010) The Social Relations of Tourism on the Perhentian Islamds. Doctoral Dissertations, University of Kentucky, Lexington. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/2