Abstract
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been established with the aim of conserving coral reefs and other marine habitats through the prohibition of fishing. Their establishment has brought about the following benefits: (1) the induction of the spill-over effect, increasing the fish stocks of adjacent coastal waters, (2) the creation of recreational resources, and (3) the maintenance of the ecosystem’s biodiversity.
An MPA is similar to commons as a common-pool resource (CPR) management institution, i. e., both schemes intend to control natural resources for their sustainable use.
The governance of commons requires three categories of cost for (A) enforcing the rule of utilizing natural resource and excluding violators in a certain area, (B) maintaining natural resources, and (C) organizing CPR institution. Managing MPAs requires similar costs.
We adopted the above framework for analyzing the SMI MPA. We focused on the activities of the Sea Guard and Cost (A), analyzed the activities of Bicol University, associated with Cost (C), and evaluated the benefits of MPA in monetary terms. In conclusion, we found that the benefits exceed the costs.
