Though Marine Parks in Malaysia are important to protect important marine resources, however, it is degraded due to human activities. In order to properly manage marine parks, economic valuation is necessary to understand the importance of marine resources conservation activities. In this study, tourist's willingness to pay (WTP) to protect marine resources at Pulau Perhentian Marine Park (PPMP) was carried out with contingent valuation method. Both single-bounded and double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation methods were used to estimate tourists WTP. A total of 250 tourists were interviewed. The results showed that median WTP ranged between RM17.98 to RM21.72 and based on the number of tourist's arrivals in 2011, the aggregate benefit at PPMP would be ranged from 1.62 to 1.96 million, respectively. The results of the study could be beneficial to the Marine Park authority in setting appropriate entrance fee at PPMP and taking the adequate conservation activities to protect marine environment and resources to deteriorate further.
Recurrent outbreaks of marine pufferfish poisoning in Bangladesh highlight the need to understand the context in which the outbreaks occurred. In a recent outbreak investigation, a multidisciplinary team conducted a mixed-method study to identify the demography and clinical manifestation of the victims and to explore different uses of pufferfish, and local buying, selling, and processing practices. The outbreak primarily affected a low income household where an elderly woman collected and cooked pufferfish egg curry. Nine persons consumed the curry, and symptoms developed in 6 (67%) of these persons. Symptoms included vomiting, diarrhea, paresis, and tingling sensation; 2 (22%) persons died. The unstable income of the affected family, food crisis, and the public disposal of unsafe pufferfish byproducts all contributed to the outbreak. A multi-level intervention should be developed and disseminated with the participation of target communities to discourage unsafe discarding of pufferfish scraps and to improve the community knowledge about the risk of consuming pufferfish.
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