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FISHER OPINIONS OF MPA PERFORMANCE:
Management perceptions in the Egadi Islands Marine Reserve

Amber H. Himes
CEMARE, University of Portsmouth
amber@tuppers.com

ABSTRACT Concerns about the effectiveness of MPAs have led to a growing interest in
conducting management evaluations. This study explores how MPA success can be analyzed
fro m the po int of view of small­scale fishers. The purpose of such an approach is to invo lve
fishers in MPA management and to identify contextual factors and criteria to be used in
management evaluation. A survey of fishing boat captains was used to characterize the
fishing industry in the area. The results are reported here. An attempt was also made to
uncover the similarities and differences in how fishers construct their definition of success in
the Egadi Islands Marine Reserve (Italy). Qualitative data was collected through face­to­face
interviews wit h fishers to explore the state of the MPA, selection of performance indicators to
evaluate the MPA, and whether it can be deemed a success (or failure) according to those
indicators. The results show that fishers hold significantly different preferences for
biological, economic and socio­cultural performance indicators in judging what is needed to
make the MPA successful. The analysis of fishers’ preferences for performance indicators here
is an important first step in understanding the criteria through which fishing communities
view MPA management.

Introduction

The artisanal fishing industry in the Mediterranean basin, particularly in Sicily, has intensely
declined during the last 20 years. The causes of this decline can be attributed, for the most
part, to the evo lut ion of more efficient fishing gear and more powerful fishing vessels and to
the subsequent depletion of most inshore resources. Both in the Mediterranean and other
regions of the world, the institution of marine protected areas (MPAs) has become a
universally accepted tool to combat problems associated with overfishing. Those that regulate
fishing activity and fisheries present an important opportunity in specific cases to study the
temporal evolution of fishing technology, to reconstruct original stock size, to identify an
ecological baseline for management, and to propose models for the management of local
renewable resources and economic development in local communities. However, fisheries
scientists and MPA managers have habitually focused only on sustainable management of the
natural resources themselves as a means to protect the environment, a flaw of traditional
fisheries management. The missing component is the people that use those resources, the
fishermen and locals, and the means by which they exploit them. It is the management of the
humans involved in resource exploitation and their socio­economic involvement in the
fishery and MPA that has the mo st impact on the effectiveness of local fisheries management
and the sustainability of local resources.

As a consequence of neglecting the resource users and the traditional use of a single
discipline approach to coastal research, a gap has developed in de facto coastal management
between the management recommendations provided by scientists studying conservation
biology and marine communities and economists that do not include ecological