The Effect of Marine Protected Areas on Fishers' Income in the Philippines

Authors

Giselle PB. Samonte, Earth Resources Technology, Inc. (ERT)Follow
Victoria C. Ramenzoni, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies
Terence U. Dacles, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, German Development Corporation
Dominik Fortenbacher, Deutsche Gesellschaft füer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, German Development Corporation

Document Type

Research Article

Abstract

The fisheries sector is vital to the Philippine economy, providing substantial employment and income, contributing export earnings, and meeting local food security and nutrition requirements. To protect coastal and marine habitat and to sustain fisheries, over 1000 marine protected areas (MPAs) have been established, in the Philippines. This paper provides empirical evidence on the variance of net revenues linked with MPA establishment and the possible range of relocation costs for fishing effort displaced by an MPA. A total of 424 households were randomly selected from 18 barangays (villages) adjacent to MPAs in three regions in the Philippines. Results show that incomes decrease significantly for both fulltime and seasonal types of fishers after 1-3 years of MPA establishment. The loss occurring through MPA is higher than expected and at least on the short run (up to 4 years) the spill-over effect does not compensate. This information helped to determine the necessary conditional cash transfers for coastal communities who are highly dependent on coastal and marine resources.

Recommended Citation

Samonte, Giselle PB.; Ramenzoni, Victoria C.; Dacles, Terence U.; and Fortenbacher, Dominik (2016) "The Effect of Marine Protected Areas on Fishers' Income in the Philippines," Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15351/2373-8456.1032

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.