Public support for conservation may decay with increasing residence time in suboptimal marine protected areas

Afonso, André S.; Fidelis, Leonardo; Roque, Pedro; Galindo, Renato; Dionisio, Wanderson; Veras, Leonardo B.; Hazin, Fábio Hissa Vieira

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103665

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Sighting frequencies increased from 2015 onward, which may be a consequence of increased tourism in the archipelago or the more frequent use of underwater cameras and enhanced awareness of citizen science. In the last decade, the FNA has seen a vast increase in the number of tourist and residents (Afonso et al 2019;Cristiano et al 2020), in conjunction with a large tourism ecological footprint (Feitosa and Gómez 2013;Lopes et al 2017). Potential negative impacts of tourism include harassment of marine animals, eutrophication, marine litter increase, light/sound pollution, introduction of exotic species, erosion and sediment loading on coral reefs (Feitosa and Gómez 2013;Canteiro et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sightings trends and behaviour of manta rays in Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Bucair¹,

Venables

Balboni³

et al. 2021

Mar Biodivers Rec

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite substantial progress in mobulid research over the past decade, knowledge gaps in manta ray ecology and behaviour remain, particularly in the South Atlantic Ocean. Opportunistic photographic and video records of manta rays collected between 2002 and 2019 at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (FNA) in northeast Brazil provide evidence to support the year-round use of the region by manta rays (believed to be Mobula cf. birostris). From a total of 130 sighting records, manta rays exhibited feeding behaviour in 36.9% (n = 48) of sightings, indicating that the shallow waters surrounding the archipelago are used as feeding grounds. Approximately half of the records (53.8%) corresponded to identified individuals that were re-sighted repeatedly, using the area in different seasons and for several years. Of the compiled records, 69.2% of sightings were of small individuals (≤3 m disc width). All identified males had undeveloped claspers and females had no visible mating scars, suggesting a juvenile population. Despite being limited to a small local sample, here we present the first report of manta rays at FNA and provide preliminary evidence of feeding behaviour by juvenile manta rays in Brazil. This information contributes to our understanding of the regional distribution and habitat use of manta rays in Brazilian waters.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sightings trends and behaviour of manta rays in Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Bucair¹,

Venables

Balboni³

et al. 2021

Mar Biodivers Rec

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Following Afonso et al (2019), age data were binned into 3 age classes, i.e., <30, 30-44, and >44 years old for categorical analysis, but age was also interpreted as a continuous variable. Regarding socioenvironmental predictors, responses to multiple choice, non-Likert questions were coded following an ordinal scale, normalized by the number of available choices in each question, and averaged to derive an overall score for each respondent concerning his/her affinity for nature ("High, " "Medium, " and "Low"), feelings/prejudice about sharks ("Positive, " "Neutral, " and "Negative"), and specific knowledge about sharks ("High, " "Medium, " and "Low").…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…OLR models incorporated Likert knowledge and perception data as response variables and all the aforementioned descriptors as candidate predictor variables, with knowledge and perception responses being modeled separately. The Likert data were weighted as in Afonso et al (2019) in order to penalize more complex assertions for which respondents would be more likely to reply randomly (Supplementary Table 1). A stepwise forward selection procedure based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used for model building.…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Lack of Knowledge Lead to Misperceptions? Disentangling the Factors Modulating Public Knowledge About and Perceptions Toward Sharks

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Identifying sources of variability in public perceptions and attitudes toward sharks can assist managers and conservationists with developing effective strategies to raise awareness and support for the conservation of threatened shark species. This study examined the effect of several demographic, economic and socioenvironmental factors on the quality of knowledge about and perceptions toward sharks in two contrasting scenarios from northeastern Brazil: a shark hazardous coastal region and a marine protected insular area. Ordered logistic regression models were built using Likert data collected with a self-administered questionnaire survey (N = 1094). A clear relationship between education, knowledge and perceptions was found, with low education level and knowledge of sharks resulting in more negative perceptions toward these species. Prejudice toward sharks stemmed as a potentially limiting factor because the positive effects of other variables such as affinity for nature and specific knowledge about sharks were superseded by the effects of negative prejudice. Other practical factors such as age, economic level, and gender, also influenced respondent's knowledge and perceptions and could provide a guidance for optimizing socioenvironmental gains relative to public engagement efforts. Results also suggested that populations inhabiting regions with high shark bite incidence likely require distinct outreach methods because some factors underlying knowledge and perception dynamics exhibited structural differences in their effects when compared to the trends observed in a marine protected area. Altogether, public perceptions and attitudes toward sharks could be feasibly enhanced with educational development and nature experiencing strategies. Moreover, disseminating shark-specific knowledge across the society might catalyze support for the conservation of these species in a cost-effective way. This study provides a

show abstract

“…Due to the unique characteristic of coastal and marine social-ecological systems (CM-SESs) [21], the shery sector is prone to stakeholder con icts (both institutional and individual) which can hamper conservation efforts at local scales [22,23]. Socioeconomic factors (e.g., per capita income, wealth, alternate livelihoods), culture, and ecology (e.g., foraging behaviour of the target species) shape the perceptions and attitudes of shers towards wildlife conservation [24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

50 years and counting: Indian Wildlife Protection Act through the lens of marine fishers

Shalu

Ramvilas

Arjun

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fishers’ awareness and attitudes towards conservation policies may vary, but can serve as important pointers towards assessing their on-ground implementation and success. We conducted a questionnaire survey across six coastal states and two island territories of India, with an aim to critically evaluate the socio-demographic factors that influence knowledge, perception and conservation attitudes of fishers towards protected marine species. Using gorgonians, seahorses and pipefishes as proxies, we assessed the differences in the fishers’ awareness and conservation attitudes towards marine taxa protected through the Wildlife (Protection) Act (WLPA) 1972. Our observations revealed divergent perceptions among respondents (fishers) with greater awareness towards seahorses, followed by gorgonians and pipefishes, respectively. The low level of awareness on legal status of the focal taxa among the fishers is also a direct indication of how key stakeholders are largely misinformed on WLPA. Nevertheless, our results also showed that a better awareness on the focal taxa tends to influence the positive conservation attitudes of fishers. Based on fishers’ perceptions and conservation attitudes, we constructed a priority matrix to identify priority areas that could help strengthen the implementation and enforcement of existing conservation policies. Despite existing conservation and management strategies such as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the WLPA, all locations along the coast of Tamil Nadu and Odisha were identified as priority areas. Thus, we contend on the importance of improving stakeholder awareness on management policies for better compliance and conservation engagement. Also, we advocate for holistic management strategies that should look beyond the currently-known legal framework (WLPA) that appears to be largely ineffective for several protected marine taxa in India.

show abstract

Public support for conservation may decay with increasing residence time in suboptimal marine protected areas

Cited by 11 publications

References 44 publications

Sightings trends and behaviour of manta rays in Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Sightings trends and behaviour of manta rays in Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Does Lack of Knowledge Lead to Misperceptions? Disentangling the Factors Modulating Public Knowledge About and Perceptions Toward Sharks

50 years and counting: Indian Wildlife Protection Act through the lens of marine fishers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About