Page 11 - Himes_2007

ARTICLE IN PRESS
A.H. Himes / Ocean & Coastal Management 50 (2007) 329–351 339
threats are causing the most damage. This is somewhat the case in the Egadi Islands.
Researchers, in particular, concentrate on the marine environment and other ecological
resources as the most important assets of the Islands. They also show value for the local
community by assigning a relatively high importance to the local cultural context and
maritime traditions. Managers, on the other hand, weight all of the resource categories
significantly, except tourism. Interestingly, three-fourths of all managers identified the
marine environment, other ecological resources and the local cultural context as important
local resources.
The main threats to local resources, identified by researchers, are relatively concentrated
excessive resource extraction and environmental degradation, including mass tourism.
While managers tend to agree, they are most frequently concentrated on the effect that
inadequate management of the MPA has on local resources.
Residents too, however, tend to be relatively widespread in their identification of
important resources and threats. A key difference, however, is that tourism is a much more
important resource to fishers and local residents. Since managers and researchers do not
make a living from local tourism, it is understandable that they would not classify it as an
important resource.

5.2. What are stakeholders’ criteria for a successful MPA?

Following the proposal by Boncouer and Mesnil [30] and Wattage et al. [28] that
stakeholder identified categories of preferences for any aspect of MPA management should
be characterized by one or more of Charles’ [29] three paradigms, an in-depth analysis of
stakeholder preferences for indicators of EIMR performance and management interven-
tions needed to achieve a successful MPA was undertaken. Similar to that hypothesized for
stakeholder identified resources and threats, it was expected that the range of performance
indicators and management interventions would be extremely diverse among stakeholder
groups and that each group would assign a unique order of importance to each indicator
and intervention identified.
Respondents were asked to complete the sentence: ‘In my opinion, the EIMR will be a
success in the future when or ify’ The aim of the question was to determine what aspect of
management and what kind of management issues were most important to each
respondent in determining overall success of the MPA. Asking about each respondent’s
personal vision attempted to evoke an initial and emotive response that would indicate
where the respondent’s priorities were. Most respondents were able to list one to four brief
indicators of good performance of the EIMR. Very few were able to list more than four
distinct responses.
Each response was examined and coded according to the terms that the respondent used
in describing their vision of a successful MPA. Occasionally a respondent’s description
referred to the same category more than once. In these cases, the related components of
their responses were combined and tallied only once in the associated performance
indicator category.
Two levels of analysis were undertaken. Responses were first coded into one of six pre-
determined categories, reflecting different aspects of management as described in the
World Commission for Protected Areas Management Framework [35]: (1) contextual
issues, (2) planning activities, (3) inputs (including financial, technical and human
resources), (4) management processes and the way in which decisions are made, (5) outputs