376
The Biology of Sea Turtles, Vol. II
14.9.3 S UPPORTING E COTOURISM
Tisdell and Wilson (2001a; 2001b; in press; in review; Wilson and Tisdell, 2001)
have provided the most thorough analysis available to date on the socioeconomics
of sea turtle ecotourism. Their work at Mon Repos provides convincing evidence
that properly managed sea turtle ecotourism is sustainable, that it can provide
incentives for funding conservation, and that educating the public with encounters
in the wild may be more effective than educational programs in zoos or aquaria in
building support for conservation. In all of their analyses, they stressed the fact that
the sustainability of ecotourism is dependent upon the successful management of
the biological resource.
Recently, Tisdell and Wilson (in press) turned their attention to assessing how
many turtles are needed to sustain an effective ecotourism program at Mon Repos.
The sustainability of ecotourism is directly related to the probability of tourists
observing either a nesting turtle or hatchlings emerging from a nest. They developed
conceptual graphical models that depict (a) the relationship between the numbers
of nesting turtles visiting the beach during the season and the number of visits for
turtle watching by tourists, and (b) the abundance (population density) of the species
being viewed and the cost–benefit to a tourist attempting to view the species. On
the basis of their assessment, Tisdell and Wilson (in press) concluded that the
approximately 200 nesting sea turtles on a 1-km beach at Mon Repos might be near
the critical minimum threshold necessary to support current levels of tourism. In
other words, if the numbers of nesting turtles were to drop much below present
levels, the ecotourism program could decline dramatically.
Because this is the first study of its kind, it is difficult to generalize from these
results. The sustainability of in situ ecotourism programs obviously is directly related
to the numbers (or density) of turtles nesting and hatching on a particular beach.
However, the exact number of turtles visiting and tourists accommodated will depend
on other variables, such as the maximum numbers of tourists allowed in a turtlewatch group. There also is likely some flexibility if ecotours are willing to provide
refunds, partial refunds, or rain checks to tourists who fail to encounter turtles (Tisdell
and Wilson, 2001b). However, given that tour guides are not likely to be able to
predict with certainty that tourists will see a turtle, and that many tourists currently
fail to encounter a turtle during their visit to Mon Repos (Tisdell and Wilson, in
press), the figure of 200 nesting turtles per km of beach per season may be a reasonable
lower threshold until further studies can be conducted elsewhere. Given that numbers
of nesting females on any particular beach can fluctuate widely from year to year,
the total population of adult females necessary to support eco-tourism will of necessity
be much greater than 200 turtles/km. Because no population can consist entirely of
adult females, it is likely that a total sea turtle population of thousands, if not tens
of thousands, including males and juveniles, will be necessary to support viable,
sustainable ecotourism programs — even if nesting is restricted to only 1 km of beach!
14.9.4 S USTAINING H ARVESTS OF E GGS OR T URTLES
Despite some excellent socioeconomic analyses of the harvest at Ostional, Costa Rica
(Campbell, 1998; Hope, 2000), it is not currently possible to estimate the number of
1123 book.book Page 376 Monday, November 11, 2002 11:11 AM
The Biology of Sea Turtles, Vol. II
14.9.3 S UPPORTING E COTOURISM
Tisdell and Wilson (2001a; 2001b; in press; in review; Wilson and Tisdell, 2001)
have provided the most thorough analysis available to date on the socioeconomics
of sea turtle ecotourism. Their work at Mon Repos provides convincing evidence
that properly managed sea turtle ecotourism is sustainable, that it can provide
incentives for funding conservation, and that educating the public with encounters
in the wild may be more effective than educational programs in zoos or aquaria in
building support for conservation. In all of their analyses, they stressed the fact that
the sustainability of ecotourism is dependent upon the successful management of
the biological resource.
Recently, Tisdell and Wilson (in press) turned their attention to assessing how
many turtles are needed to sustain an effective ecotourism program at Mon Repos.
The sustainability of ecotourism is directly related to the probability of tourists
observing either a nesting turtle or hatchlings emerging from a nest. They developed
conceptual graphical models that depict (a) the relationship between the numbers
of nesting turtles visiting the beach during the season and the number of visits for
turtle watching by tourists, and (b) the abundance (population density) of the species
being viewed and the cost–benefit to a tourist attempting to view the species. On
the basis of their assessment, Tisdell and Wilson (in press) concluded that the
approximately 200 nesting sea turtles on a 1-km beach at Mon Repos might be near
the critical minimum threshold necessary to support current levels of tourism. In
other words, if the numbers of nesting turtles were to drop much below present
levels, the ecotourism program could decline dramatically.
Because this is the first study of its kind, it is difficult to generalize from these
results. The sustainability of in situ ecotourism programs obviously is directly related
to the numbers (or density) of turtles nesting and hatching on a particular beach.
However, the exact number of turtles visiting and tourists accommodated will depend
on other variables, such as the maximum numbers of tourists allowed in a turtlewatch group. There also is likely some flexibility if ecotours are willing to provide
refunds, partial refunds, or rain checks to tourists who fail to encounter turtles (Tisdell
and Wilson, 2001b). However, given that tour guides are not likely to be able to
predict with certainty that tourists will see a turtle, and that many tourists currently
fail to encounter a turtle during their visit to Mon Repos (Tisdell and Wilson, in
press), the figure of 200 nesting turtles per km of beach per season may be a reasonable
lower threshold until further studies can be conducted elsewhere. Given that numbers
of nesting females on any particular beach can fluctuate widely from year to year,
the total population of adult females necessary to support eco-tourism will of necessity
be much greater than 200 turtles/km. Because no population can consist entirely of
adult females, it is likely that a total sea turtle population of thousands, if not tens
of thousands, including males and juveniles, will be necessary to support viable,
sustainable ecotourism programs — even if nesting is restricted to only 1 km of beach!
14.9.4 S USTAINING H ARVESTS OF E GGS OR T URTLES
Despite some excellent socioeconomic analyses of the harvest at Ostional, Costa Rica
(Campbell, 1998; Hope, 2000), it is not currently possible to estimate the number of
1123 book.book Page 376 Monday, November 11, 2002 11:11 AM