Social Working Group

A central goal of the BBP’s Social Working Group (SWG) is to identify potential socioeconomic and cultural impacts that may result from the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Hopefully, this can lead to an improved process of designating the types of MPA (e.g., no-take zones versus gear restrictions, etc.), choosing their locations, and planning for both short-term and long-term impacts, such as fishing displacement, job displacement, and increased development associated with growth in tourism and other sectors.

The SWG is using surveys, guided interviews, focus groups, and participant observation in Bahamian settlements in order to: 1) understand local perceptions of change in marine resource availability; 2) identify trends in local use of marine resources; 3) identify local and external drivers of social and ecological change; 4) identify sources of information about the environment; 5) identify local perceptions of the utility of regulations, including MPAs; and 6) characterize people's cultural attachments to the sea. Some variables necessary for modeling, such as fishing pressure, investments in gear and target species during different seasons, are more easily quantifiable than other, more value-laden activities, such as the personal pleasure derived from recreational fishing, or the value of coral reefs for future generations. Even quantification of the more quantifiable activities, however, can be quite challenging since fishing and marketing occur at multiple scales, ranging from larger commercial endeavors ("smack boats") to smaller, individual operations working in the informal economy.

Even more challenging than estimating the impacts of regulatory changes on single groups, such as fishing households, is to understand and model the potential feedbacks that may occur as changes in one activity influence another. For example, the establishment of an MPA that supports recreational catch-and-release fishing and diving may attract tourists to that area. To cater to these tourists, new hotels, dive operations, and seafood restaurants may be established, potentially contributing to changes in water quality, boat traffic, habitat degradation, and overfishing pressures on nearby natural resources. What will be the net impact of these secondary effects on the local ecosystem? Such questions will need to be answered by linking socioeconomic analyses to inferences from other environmental studies.