Frontiers in Marine Science (May 2014)
Designing trails for subaquatic tourism in Marine Protected Areas
Abstract
Although the range of touristic activities that take place in the sea has greatly expanded in recent years, the marine realm continues to be one of the least known to the public. Scuba diving and snorkeling are popular activities in the marine environment. Among its benefits, snorkeling is simple, cheap, and accessible to a wide range of population. In this regard, it has considerable potential as a tool for environmental education as it allows a firsthand observation of the subaquatic seascape as well as a direct interaction with marine wildlife. These attributes, together with its low ecological impact, make snorkeling an activity particularly suitable for marine protected areas. Yet, its implementation in marine protected areas requires new tools for an appropriate use. Here, we show an innovative procedure for assessing the underwater seascape that should help in the designation of touristic subaquatic trails analogous to those commonly used in terrestrial landscapes. We elaborated a system of 18 “Perceptible Seascape Elements”, grouped into 9 Concepts, that leads to a “Potential Observation Index” summarizing the seabed landscape qualities that can be observed while snorkeling. Tests of this approach in a National Park (Parque Nacional Marítimo-Terrestre de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia) led to the design and ranking of 6 underwater trails. On the other hand, we used standardized questionnaires to determine the attributes of park’s visitors, their expectative, their perception of the marine environment, and previous skills in snorkeling. Many visitors were mostly unaware of the qualities of the marine environment of the National Park but we found considerable interest in new alternatives to enjoy the marine environment such as snorkeling. Our procedure and results could help to add snorkeling to the set of environmental education strategies already used in the Park.
Keywords
