Valoração Ambiental Do Parque Estadual Marinho Da Pedra Da Risca Do Meio, Ceará, Brasil

Abstract

The establishment of protected areas is an efficient way to ensure nature conservation, but these areas are frequently managed without objective criteria for resource allocation, what often results in insufficient funding. In order to contribute to the management of marine protected areas in Brazil, this paper aims to estimate use and non-use values of Parque Estadual Marinho da Pedra da Risca do Meio, located in Ceará state, through the contingent valuation method. One hundred and five (105) interviews were conducted with residents of Fortaleza, Ceará, and the influence of sociological variables (summarized by descriptive statistics) on the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for the maintenance of the Park was studied through linear models. Total willingness to pay was calculated by multiplying WTP by the involved population. On average, respondents were willing to expend R$21.50 / month for the maintenance of the Park, an amount that was higher in the case of users and people of higher incomes. Considering only users, the use value amounts to R$964.080 / year. These results highlight the importance of this protected area and emphasize the need of new financing strategies for its maintenance. Increased incentives for visitation, collection of fees and the payment for environmental services seem to be well-accepted financing mechanisms, which are equally applicable to other Brazilian marine protected areas, and therefore can contribute to the conservation of the country's coastal zone.

O que sabemos sobre os impactos ambientais do turismo nos recifes tropicais do Brasil?

“…No Ceará foram realizadas três pesquisas que avaliaram os impactos do turismo nos ambientes recifais, apesar de apresentar recifes de arenito e áreas para o turismo de mergulho como naufrágios e um Parque Marinho com operação turística regular. No Parque Marinho da Risca do Meio foram realizados estudos que abordaram aspectos da sua gestão, como a efetividade da UC (Lima-Filho, 2006), diagnóstico socioambiental (Andrade, 2015) e valoração ecológica (Carneiro et al, 2017), porém sem abordar sobre os possíveis impactos do turismo na área.…”

Marine Hardbottom Environments in the Beaches of Ceará State, Equatorial Coast of Brazil

“…MHE are essential sources of ecosystem goods and services for coastal areas (Elliff & Kikuchi, 2017;Silva & Nascimento, 2020;Woodhead et al, 2019). It is possible to represent this importance numerically by integrating the values of direct and indirect uses, the possibility of future use, and the value of non-use of these ecosystems, in an estimate of the total economic value of these environments (Carneiro et al, 2017) (Table I). However, in the case of Ceará, few studies have addressed coastal MHE from an economic point of view (Maia & Rocha-Barreira, 2008), and there is no numerical survey of production in these environments.…”

“…However, in the case of Ceará, few studies have addressed coastal MHE from an economic point of view (Maia & Rocha-Barreira, 2008), and there is no numerical survey of production in these environments. Only one study has sought to quantify in monetary terms the importance of this type of ecosystem in the state (Carneiro et al, 2017). This study, however, did not focus on the intertidal MHE, but on the submerged formations that make up the Pedra da Risca do Meio Marine State Park, located 18 km from the city of Fortaleza, in waters up to 30 m deep.…”

“…This study, however, did not focus on the intertidal MHE, but on the submerged formations that make up the Pedra da Risca do Meio Marine State Park, located 18 km from the city of Fortaleza, in waters up to 30 m deep. According to Carneiro et al (2017), the Park's subtidal MHE are worth about R$ 1 million per year mainly due to the services they provide to tourism and fishing and thus their degradation would bring significant losses to Ceará.…”

Effects of fishing on the Serra Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus brasiliensis) in Northeast Brazil

“…Since the 1960s, the need to monitor Serra Spanish Mackerel stocks has been recognized, in light of unregulated exploitation of the species, mainly in relation to an increase in length of gillnets used, which reach up to 15 km (Mourão et al., 2014). Moreover, the prevalent capture of immature individuals is of concern, especially because stock production has been approaching maximum sustainable yield (MSY) in recent years (Alcântara Filho, 1972; Carneiro & Salles, 2011; Fonteles Filho, 1988; Lessa et al., 2004; Lucena et al., 2004; Mota Alves & Tomé, 1968).…”