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ARTICLE IN PRESS
346 A.H. Himes / Ocean & Coastal Management 50 (2007) 329–351
community education and the availability of information, providing better services for the
tourism industry, and involving the community in management, respectively, in order of
priority. In addition to managers, residents ranked increasing external publicity of the
MPA and the Egadi Islands closely behind the first five interventions.

5.4. Data collection problems

It is important to acknowledge the problems associated with data collection in this
research. There is a possibility that survey respondents may not have fully understood the
distinction between questions regarding what performance indicators they regard as
important (i.e. In my opinion, the EIMR will be a success when/ify, e.g. increase
enforcement) and what management interventions could be used to improve that aspect of
performance. Many respondents gave the same answer to both questions (e.g. increase
enforcement), indicating that they might not comprehend the difference between
performance indicators (e.g. decrease in illegal activity) and management interventions
that could improve those indicators (e.g. increase in number of enforcement vessels on the
water). This could result in confusion over the extent to which both processes and
outcomes can be viewed as indicators of success; however, the data collected from these
two questions is still valid as it provides an important look into stakeholder preferences as
a whole.

6. Discussion

In a perfect world, every MPA would have a management plan that is created by a
diverse group of stakeholders that represent a variety of interests and preferences for how
the MPA should be managed and how it can be more successful. In addition, the
management plan would provide specific measurements of performance that could be used
in analyzing an MPA’s overall effectiveness and ‘success;’ for example, ‘develop a program
to train fishers to help in enforcing the MPA’s regulations.’ Unfortunately, as in many
cases around the world, the EIMR, as of now, lacks a management plan and,
consequently, lacks any formally stated performance measures. It also has consistently
lacked stakeholder input and, as a result, stakeholder buy-in into the need for an MPA and
how the EIMR has been managed thus far.
As was undertaken for the present research, one method for overcoming the lack of a
management plan and stakeholder input is to conduct structured and informal interviews
to understand where a diverse group of stakeholders’ preferences for management lie.
While this may be less than feasible for some MPA practitioners, due to time, budget and
capacity constraints, obtaining significant stakeholder input in this way provides a viable
alternative to either the absence or inadequacy of a management plan in assessing
performance and effectiveness.
The findings from this case study in eliciting stakeholder definitions of performance
indicators and necessary management interventions in the EIMR allow for the acceptance
of the hypotheses described at the beginning of this paper, as well as add new insights
regarding the similarities and differences between stakeholder needs, interests, and
concerns.
A key conclusion is that there is tremendous potential for conflict between the various
perspectives of stakeholder groups. Moreover, these differences must be understood and