'Stingray City'- Managing the Impact of Underwater Tourism in the Cayman Islands

Shackley, Myra

doi:10.1080/09669589808667320

Cited by 52 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The provisioning of food to enable wildlife sightings is also a highly debatable subject area (Shackley, 1998;Chin et al, 2000;Curry et al, 2001;Green and Higginbottom, 2001;Orams, 2002;Lewis and Newsome, 2003). Many people in the UK feed the wildlife that frequents their garden and bird feeders; nest boxes and bird food have gradually taken up more fl oor space in garden centres and built wildlife attractions (RSPB, personal communication, 2007).…”

Section: Using Tape Recorder/food Provisioning/ Managing Closeness Anmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The issue of food provisioning, however, is complex. The literature advises a cautionary approach because of the negative impacts that over-reliance on provisioning can cause (Orams, 2002) the wrong type of food and the increase in animal population caused by the unnatural abundance of food (Shackley, 1998).…”

Section: Managing the Tourist Experience: Implications For Tour Leadersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

Curtin

2009

Journal of Tourism Research

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This paper is based on a small ethnographic study of serious wildlife tourists. It focuses on three important aspects of this type of travel. First, the tangible benefi ts of the tourist experience; second, the importance of the tour leader as the interface between the product and the tourist; and fi nally, tourist perceptions of their potential environmental and social impacts. The fi ndings reveal participants' environmental sensibilities and the desire to avoid disturbance, the social benefi ts of organised tours and how the tour leader is critical to both the success of the holiday and the responsible behaviour of the group.

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Section: Using Tape Recorder/food Provisioning/ Managing Closeness Anmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Managing the Tourist Experience: Implications For Tour Leadersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

Curtin

2009

Journal of Tourism Research

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“…Visitors on average gave their experience with the rays a satisfaction value of 8.9 out of 10 The most common reason for this high value being because the site was unique and different. Furthermore, the study undertaken by Shackley (1998) was in response to over 100 000 people visiting the stingray provisioning site per year, indicating that tourists are very keen to interact with stingrays. However, in opposition to developing the site, the most important aspect of wildlife tourism to both tour operators and visitors to Hamelin Bay (as well as what tour operators believe are important to their patrons) is 'seeing animals in their natural state'.…”

Section: Stingray Tourism At Hamelin Bay 341mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Potential harm includes physical stress such as lesions from touching or beaching themselves and from visitors who are rough or who may cause deliberate physical harm to the rays. Less direct negative impacts include habituation, overfeeding, disease contraction from humans, contaminated food or water fouling (Shackley, 1998 Lewis (2002) has shown that at present some visitor conflict already exists between boaters, rays, swimmers, those provisioning the rays and beach fisherman. Planning may help to minimise these growing conflicts in the future.…”

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confidence: 99%

Planning for stingray tourism at Hamelin Bay, Western Australia: the importance of stakeholder perspectives

Lewis

Newsome

2003

Journal of Tourism Research

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Stingray tourism continues to be developed at various locations around the world with the concept being marketed on television travel programmes, documentaries, internet sites and travel brochures. Food provisioned stingray tourism, for example, now attracts some 100 000 visitors a year to 'stingray city' in the Caymen Islands. At Hamelin Bay in southwest Western Australia, up to 16 large stingrays (Dasyatis brevicaudata and Dasyatis thetidis) and numerous eaglerays (Myliobatis australis) are fed by visitors from the waters edge. This study reports on stakeholder perspectives relating to tourism development and potential management of the Hamelin Bay site. From the results of this study it is clear that there is sufficient interest in stingray tourism (by all the stakeholders surveyed) to develop Hamelin Bay as a permanent feeding site. Visitors on average gave their experience with the rays a satisfaction value of 8.9 out of 10. Twentyfive per cent of visitors surveyed did not want commercialisation, tour groups or excessive visitor numbers. Their main concern was that the health and safety of the rays may deteriorate with an increase of visitors if the situation is not managed correctly. Visitors desire to be educated about the rays, and how to best interact with them safely. Visitors also acknowledged that the site needs management through more signs, information and a management plan. Management for the site is therefore likely to be best implemented through the application of signage, development of guidelines/codes of conduct, protection of the rays and zoning the beach according to specific recreational purposes. (Spender, 2001). The primary concern with this practice is overfeeding of stingrays, as in a natural state food resources are the limiting factor to stingray populations (Department of Environment, 2001). The ecological implications of an increase in stingray numbers include a potential impact on their natural prey if the rays were to feed away from the tourist site (Department of Environment, 2001). Other concerns include increased susceptibility of the rays to disease, limited nourishment, alterations in their natural behaviour, death from ingesting litter and water fouling (Department of Environment, 2001).In the southwest of Western Australia, 300 km south of Perth (Figure 1 gregate at a time to feed on the fish scraps thrown in the water by fishermen. The stingrays consist of a number of species, including the smooth ray (Dasyatis brevicaudata), black stingray (Dasyatis thetidis) and eagleyray (Myliobatis australis). The smooth ray is the largest of all stingrays, which can grow to 4.3 m in length (Allen, 1999). Currently, up to 20 people at a time attend the feeding site usually around midday when there is frequently at least six rays in attendance. People can be seen paddling around in boats or more commonly standing in the water observing, touching and/or feeding the rays. This activity often lasts from December until March each year (Figures 2 and 3).The potential for a tourism...

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“…For example, there is evidence that human recreational activities can disrupt activity budgets of seals and orcas (Kovacs & Innes 1990, Williams et al 2006, Stafford-Bell et al 2012, reduce social interactions in southern right whales (Vermeulen et al 2012), and cause acute behavioural changes and chronic spatial displacement in bottlenose dolphins (Scarpaci et al 2000, Constantine & Zealand 2001, Constantine et al 2004, Lusseau 2004. Following intense tourism activity and provisioning, the naturally solitary southern stingray developed shoaling behaviour, changed feeding habits, and experienced a higher rate of injury and larger parasite load resulting in an overall lower body condition than stingrays at non-tourist sites (Shackley 1998, Semeniuk & Rothley 2008. Hawksbill turtles may also decrease time spent eating and breathing in response to an approaching SCUBA diver (Hayes et al 2016), and reef fish may forgo cleaning opportunities in the presence of divers (Titus et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No persistent behavioural effects of SCUBA diving on reef sharks

Bradley¹,

Papastamatiou²,

Caselle³

2017

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Despite rapid growth in the marine tourism sector, the impacts of recreation on the marine environment are generally not well understood. Most existing studies of marine recreation ecology have focused on behavioural changes resulting from direct interactions between humans and wildlife including provisioning. However, non-consumptive, non-provisioning human impacts may also result in persistent behavioural impacts to shark populations. In this study, we examined differences in residency, abundance, and behaviour of reef sharks at Palmyra Atoll in response to long-term SCUBA diving activity, using a combination of survey techniques including baited remote underwater video systems and multi-year passive acoustic monitoring. In most locations with recreational diving operations, some level of human impact is pervasive, but on Palmyra, extractive fishing is prohibited, and scientific diving activities are concentrated on just a few sites that house long-term monitoring projects. These sites experience relatively intensive diving, while the majority of the island is entirely undived. Evidence from elsewhere has shown that sharks behaviourally respond to people in the water over short time scales, but our results indicate that this response may not persist. We did not detect differences in reef shark abundance or behaviour between heavily dived and undived locations, nor were there differences in shark residency patterns at dived and undived sites in a year with substantial diving activity and a year without any diving. Our results suggest that humans can interact with reef sharks without persistent behavioural impacts, and that well-regulated shark diving tourism can be accomplished without undermining conservation goals.

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'Stingray City'- Managing the Impact of Underwater Tourism in the Cayman Islands

Cited by 52 publications

References 6 publications

Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

Managing the wildlife tourism experience: The importance of tour leaders

Planning for stingray tourism at Hamelin Bay, Western Australia: the importance of stakeholder perspectives

No persistent behavioural effects of SCUBA diving on reef sharks

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