Files
Abstract
The recent establishment of the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR) presents a unique
opportunity to analyze the economic implications of using zonification as a tool to manage conflicting
claims to a fragile and limited resource. Recognizing that the long-term success of the GMR depends on
the cooperation of all of the stakeholders involved, a remarkable feature of the new legislation is that
further policy development depends upon analysis of the socio-economic and environmental impacts that
the new management regime has on both the users and the ecosystems of the GMR. We consider some of
the economic impacts to the residents of Galápagos, and in particular to the fisheries sector, resulting from
the use of “no take” zones as a management tool. We develop a simple two-sector fixed labor model to
illustrate how the establishment of “no take” zones, which impact the fishing sector, will also affect the
tourism sector through both the labor market and biotic mechanisms. Although we find that the
establishment of marine refugia passes a rough cost-benefit analysis, we discuss the importance of
considering the intertemporal nature of the impacts resulting from the closure of fishing grounds in the
GMR when analyzing the economic impacts to the various sectors.