Public Perception of establishing Marine Protected Areas in Guimaras Province, Philippines using Contingent Valuation Method

Philippine fisheries code of 1998 (Republic Act 8550), which is enacted to achieve food security by managing, conserving and protecting fishery resources, obliges local governments to designate no less than 15% of jurisdictional municipal water as fisheries resource protection zone. Accordingly, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are the most extensively established as fisheries management and conservation tool and over 1,500 MPAs are reported in the Philippines. But there has been debate on the pros and cons of implementing MPAs because of the positive and negative impacts on local communities and fishermen. A dichotomous-choice contingent-valuation survey was conducted in the two municipalities of Guimaras, Philippines to investigate public opinion in debates over MPAs and to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for MPAs to protect and conserve marine habitats for fishery resources. For the benefits and costs of MPAs, 43.6% of respondents thought the costs would be larger than the benefit, but 91% respondents voted in favor of increasing MPAs for fisheries resources as a protective measure. Finally, the estimated Turnbull lower-bound mean WTP (36.75ha) was php 493.6(US$ 11.3) per household to establish the additional MPA (36.75ha) in their municipality waters.