Wildlife-focused tourism is often considered as having the potential to play an integral part of threatened species conservation efforts, particularly through financial support. We focused on the direct financing of conservation by investigating tourists’ willingness to pay to snorkel with reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) at Barefoot Manta, an ecotourism resort in the Yasawa group of islands in Fiji. Our results indicate that 82.4% of people surveyed would be willing to pay a mean value of ~ USD $9.2 (SE 0.9) more than the current cost, a 28% increase. Also, 89% of people surveyed would be willing to pay a mean value of ~ USD $10.2 (SE 0.9) more for a hypothetical scenario where they would snorkel with 50% fewer people, a 31% increase. We also investigated tourists’ willingness to make voluntary donations to the local community above an existing payment of ~ USD $10 that is built into the current snorkel payment of ~ USD $32.5. On average, 91.3% of the tourists interviewed were willing to donate additional funds with an average additional donation of ~ USD $8.6 (SE 0.5) to the community to pay for educational and environmental support, an 86% increase. There were few significant relationships between willingness to pay and demographic factors (including age, income, nationality, education, and others), suggesting that willingness to pay was widely held by the tourist population staying at Barefoot Manta Resort. Together, these results indicate that wildlife-based nature tourism could represent a potential, but not unlimited, income source to fund conservation in the Yasawa group, Fiji islands, and that conservation can arise from partnerships between local communities and the tourism sector.

The effect of hull dynamics on the hydrodynamic performance of a single scull is investigated via a combination of field trials and tank tests. The location of laminar-turbulent transition in unsteady flow is explored via several series of hot-film measurements on the bow of a full-scale single scull in unsteady flow in both towing tank and field-trial conditions. Results demonstrate that the measured real-world viscous-flow behaviour can be successfully reproduced in the tank using an oscillating sub-carriage to reproduce the surging motion measured in the field trials. It can be seen that there is a strong link between turbulence and acceleration; results show that the link is relatively insensitive to mean velocity, but that small changes in acceleration time-histories can have a marked effect, as can the presence of small waves. The impact of the location of laminar turbulent transition is investigated by way of a series of resistance tests, both with free transition and with transition forced by turbulence stimulation at two different locations. Results indicate that an aft movement of 200mm of the location of transition can reduce resistance by almost 0.5 per cent. Unsteady tests using the oscillating sub-carriage indicate that unsteady effects add around 3 per cent to the total mean resistance with free transition

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In this study, we investigated the effect of hull dynamics in shallow water on the hydrodynamic performance of rowing shells as well as canoes and kayaks. An approach was developed to generate data in a towing tank using a test rig capable of reproducing realistic speed profiles. The impact of unsteady shallow-water effects on wave-making resistance was examined via experimental measurements on a benchmark hull. The data generated were used to explore the validity of a computational approach developed to predict unsteady shallow-water wave resistance. Comparison of measured and predicted results showed that the computational approach correctly predicted complex unsteady wave-resistance phenomena at low oscillation frequency and speed, but that total resistance was substantially under-predicted at moderate oscillation frequency and speed. It was postulated that this discrepancy arose from unsteady viscous effects. This was investigated via hot-film measurements for a full-scale single scull in unsteady flow in both towing-tank and field-trial conditions. Results suggested a strong link between acceleration and turbulence and demonstrated that the measured real-world viscous-flow behaviour could be successfully reproduced in the tank. Thus a suitable tank-test approach could provide a reliable guide to hull performance characterization in unsteady flow.

Wing sails offer a different design challenge to those of more conventional soft sail rigs. This study was undertaken in order to assess which parameters influence wingsail performance of C-Class catamarans, and to what extent, the results from the wind tunnel can be applied in the design developments of future wingsails. A combined wing sail and C-class catamaran was tested in the low-speed section of the 7' x 5' wind tunnel at the University of Southampton. Testing assessed the appropriate settings for the movable element of the multiple-element wing sail as well as heeling angle, trampoline porosity, spanwise camber distribution and gap at the foot of the wingsail. Both upwind and downwind conditions were considered through measurement of driving force, heeling force, lift and drag coefficients. The results demonstrate that low heel angles improve overall performance and that the gap underneath the wingsail foot adversely affects the generation of lift by the sail. An airfoil shaped trampoline is suggested in order to benefit both a reduced gap and a better control over the heel. For heavy wind condition, negative twist at the tip of the wingsail allows higher boat speeds.