Conservation-Friendly Practices
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Increase number of marine conservation supporters
Improving
Gökova Bay to Cape Gelidonya
Türkiye
Problem: Although tourism is economically important to this seascape, some unsustainable tourism practices can have harmful effects. These include human presence in monk seal caves, which is distressing to the seals and often causes them to leave the cave and in severe cases, abandon their young. Additional tourism pressures include boats anchoring on seagrass meadows, a critical habitat and food source for recovering fish populations and other marine biodiversity, and pollution.
Action: AKD has created a conservation-friendly certification scheme, awarding conservation-friendly flags to boats committing to the certification requirements, which the boats can use in their marketing. The scheme targets key resource users and tourism businesses, and educates them to avoid monk seal caves and not moor on seagrass beds. These outcomes were monitored by the patrol team. In addition, AKD works to build support for conservation among other businesses and institutions in the area, including research institutions, fisheries cooperatives, and hotels.
Indicator: The number of formal commitments to conservation-oriented practices, including tourism operators agreeing to avoid visiting sensitive sites, indicates an increased support for conservation in the area. It also indicates attitude change by local businesses and boat owners, and an acceptance that they must help conserve the area to support the long-term viability of their businesses.
Methods
AKD directly managed interactions with local stakeholders and advocated for agreements to be signed. They retained a copy of all agreements, used to calculate the total number of agreements signed. Partnership requests were evaluated in line with ELSP goals and AKD’s vision and mission, leading to collaborations across the public, NGOs, and private sectors where appropriate.
Conservation friendly boat flag held by marine resource user. Photo: AKD.
Results
The number of institutions supporting conservation via agreements signed with AKD increased in each year of the project from 2019 – 2024. AKD signed codes of conduct or memorandum of understanding agreements with the following groups:
- Boat users (signing up to conservation friendly boat practices )(21)
- Government, including academic institutions (11)
- Fisheries Cooperatives (4)
- Non-Governmental Organisations (6)
- Private Sector (3)
Figure 1: Cumulative number of institutions supporting marine conservation through signed agreements with AKD in each project year. Note that values for each year represent the number of existing active agreements, plus new agreements signed in that year. Institutions included conservation-friendly boats, government bodies (universities, municipalities and government ministries), NGOs, fisheries cooperatives, and private sector organisations (hotels and marinas).
Interpretation
As the impact and success of AKD’s ongoing work becomes evident, the desire for collaboration from the public, NGOs, and the private sector increased. This included agreements related to the broader work of AKD in the area, such as agreements with research institutions to provide support with science and monitoring, agreements with local and national government (such as the Ministry of Environment), other conservation and nature NGOs, and hotels and marinas.
Lessons learned
As part of the Conservation Friendly Boat (CFB) initiative, an information card and flag were provided to boats displaying conservation-friendly behaviour. This card, which generated great interest, helped to increase awareness of marine conservation. Each boat also displayed a printed code of conduct.
The CFB initiative is not alone sufficient to reduce threats to marine biodiversity in the project area, and this is currently creating awareness only at the local level. Nevertheless, this is just one component of awareness activities that have been expanding throughout the project. Outreach and education work continue, but ultimately policies are needed to create the necessary frameworks for conservation-friendly behaviours and for real change to occur.
Partners
