Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Coastal municipalities and islands in the southern and northern province of Iloilo are among the most popular tourist destinations and they are losing sight of what nature conservation is about. Laws have become dangerously focused on protected areas, but rarely consider what they’re supposed to achieve. One result is that biodiversity is declining almost everywhere while protected areas expand slowly. As a result of their distinctive environment or ecology, marine protected areas attract tourists but with small areas, insularity and often lack of resources. As mentioned by Pearce (1987), marine protected area produce a form of tourism that is overwhelmingly dependent on sun, sea, sand, and scenery. With that, the ocean and local waters face many threats that range from pollution to overfishing and destructive fishing practices, and from climate change to ocean acidification. Fortunately, some areas of the ocean are untouched by humans which provides protection against these threats. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) provide refuges where marine life is protected from some or all human pressures allowing marine environments to grow, thrive, and replenish the broader ocean. The benefits of MPAs to marine ecosystem and coastal communities include allowing marine species to recover, and protecting essential marine habitats from destructive fishing practices. Assessing this marine protected area and its viability as an ecotourism destination through this research helps in attaining this goal.