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400 A. H. Himes

illegal trawling is not frequent enough to damage the Gulf ecosystem, as benefits of the
reserve (e.g., increases in biomass) are still observed (Pipitone et al., 2000a). The survey
demonstrates that the reserve has already been accepted and deemed effective by the
majority of local fishers and trawling surveys (Pipitone et al., 2000a,b) have shown a
relatively large increase in biomass. However, only by mandating enforcement can long-
term performance improve (Murray et al., 1999).

In the EIMR, the situation is more severe. All fishers see is a lack of enforcement.
The lack of enforcement is one of the main causes of perceived management failure in
the reserve for local fishers. Only two vessels are available for patrol in the reserve,
neither of which is designated solely for reserve patrol. The reserve is sufficiently large
so that two vessels that work only part-time cannot adequately patrol the entirety of the
reserve. But although enforcement is clearly not adequate, few fishers suggest that en-
forcement should be more severe. Understandably, many commented that they do not
want to criticize enforcement for fear that their response could backfire and enforcement
will become more severe toward them. Providing better public education and improving
communication between stakeholders and local government could play a major role in
alleviating the fear toward the possibility of enforcement backfiring.

Following the lack of enforcement and a lack of support by the local community,
compliance with the regulations in the EIMR is very low. Illegal fishing was frequently
observed throughout the reserve during the course of the study and is frequently noted
by local residents. Notably, however, many fishers suggested that they would fully sup-
port the reserve if the management regime were modified so that illegal activities were
properly enforced with stricter regulations. However, because illegal activities, namely
trawling, still occur with little to no enforcement to prevent them, local artisanal fishers
have started fishing illegally as well, compounding the problem of illegal trawling. In
both case studies, it is evident that enforcement should be increased to improve the
overall effectiveness of the reserves and meet management objectives. Without enforce-
ment, compliance will continue to remain low and the expected benefits of the reserves
will be difficult if not impossible to achieve.

Performance Measurement

MPA and Management Effectiveness. One of the most important aspects of effective-
ness in any MPA is biophysical data such as total fish density and coral reef health,
which indicate whether the MPA has been successful overall and management objec-
tives have been reached. The objectives and data to be collected are commonly deter-
mined with the use of performance indicators. Frequently, such performance measure-
ments are determined a priori through previously designed criteria or based on defini-
tions researchers and managers have constructed through experience. Often, however,
managers fail to look at the community’s perception of an MPA’s success and how that
perception compares between stakeholder groups (Steins, 1999). In order to confront
this downfall in traditional MPA evaluation procedures and to begin to analyze the community’s
perception of success in the GCFR and EIMR, fishers were probed regarding their opin-
ions on management effectiveness, perceptions of related impacts, and problems they
have experienced as a result of the MPA.

In the two MPAs, fishers’ opinions of reserve management institutions were used to
indicate the effectiveness and overall success of the reserve with regards to the reserves
objective to improve the local fishery. Similarly, fishers’ opinions were used to analyze
management effectiveness in the Apo Island Marine Reserve in the Philippines (Russ &
Alcala, 1999) and the Bunaken Manado Tua Marine Park in Indonesia (Alder, Sloan, &
Uktolseya, 1994). Analyzing whether fishers view the GCFR and EIMR as effective