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ARTICLE IN PRESS
A.H. Himes / Ocean & Coastal Management 50 (2007) 329–351 349
interests. This can become extremely problematic when MPA managers disagree among
themselves and with local stakeholders about the definition of ‘success’ and information
requirements needed to undertake a meaningful evaluation of management. However, as
Baber [35] suggests, even if stakeholder groups are substantially diverse, they should not be
exempted from participatory processes as this would surely institutionalize their marginal
status and ultimately diminish stakeholder trust in resource managers. Second, it is
possible that all that is needed is increased dialogue with stakeholders to develop more of a
consensus within predetermined groups, such as fishers, that may have mutually exclusive
ideas about how a protected area can be more effective [35].
Frequently, stakeholders feel that their opinion in MPA management is not taken into
consideration and thus show limited support for overall management. Consequently,
stakeholder buy-in to the whole management process and need for conservation of
sensitive biological resources is often low. However, through the development and use of
preference elicitation methods, such as questionnaires, some of this animosity and
stakeholder conflict may be reduced and help to reduce the problems that managers face in
achieving successful natural resource management regimes in individual locations. In
understanding how success can be achieved in an MPA, a measure of the importance that
stakeholder groups attach to performance indicators can be determined through structured
surveys.
While undertaking structured surveys is often a time consuming and costly process that
many MPA managers cannot afford, as an alternative, managers can gain similar insights
into stakeholder needs through informal interviews with key informants on a regular basis,
occasional focus groups representing stakeholder viewpoints, or involving stakeholders
from the very beginning in major aspects of management, from developing a management
plan and needed management actions to implementing management actions. Any of these
methods would help managers at some level to prioritize key areas of management to
concentrate on as well as comprehensibly understand the fundamental interests of
stakeholder groups. Whatever the method chosen, this is an important step in designing
MPA management strategies that will be accepted by stakeholder groups and ultimately
lead to a successful MPA.

Acknowledgments

This is a contribution from a Ph.D. dissertation completed at the University of
Portsmouth (United Kingdom). I am most grateful to the researchers at the University of
Portsmouth’s Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources, especially
Dr. David Whitmarsh, Dr. Victoria Edwards and Dr. Simon Mardle. I am also grateful to
the researchers at the Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero in Castellammare del Golfo,
Sicily and the fishers and residents of the Egadi Islands.

References

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