Sarah Durose1, David Jones1 and Rebeca Chaverri1

1Global Vision International Costa Rica, Apartado Postal 78-7209, Cariari de Pococí, Limón, Costa Rica. Email: costarica@gvi.co.uk

Eco-Tourism Overflow: local implications of restrictive conservation management

The Caño Palma (CP) waterway in Costa Rica is in a peculiar situation. Located inside the southern extent of Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge (REBACO) but just eight kilometers north of Tortuguero National Park (PNT), it is affected more by the ecotourism of its neighbour than the managerial issues associated with the northern majority of REBACO. The waterway itself func-tions as an access to two tourist lodges,

several fincas, a biological station and the small village of San Francisco. As a narrow blackwater canal typical of the local Raphia taedigera swamp forests, its richness of biodiversity is appealing to the local tourist industry for the ease of spotting iconic fauna such as monkeys, toucans, and even, on occasion, wild-cats.Despite not belonging to PNT it was

included in the Plan de Manejo de

Visitantes PNT (PMV) produced by the regional and national environmental and conservation government agencies. The year end figures for visitors to PNT for 1983 were just over 1300 people, by 2003 that figure had reached just under 68,000. From a brief study in March 2004 they estimated that of the five legally accessible waterways for PNT and the immediate area, CP received over 38% of the boat traffic (MINAET, 2004).

Peculiarities of Caño Palma

ReferencesJones, D., Verissimo, D. & Chaverri, R (2009). Priceless monitoring without cost: the significance of incidental detection of species to conservation ef-forts. Poster, XIII Congreso de la SMBC Belize, 2009.Liguori, S. (2003) Yellow-crowned night-heron Nyctanassa violacea. In B.E Beans& L Niles (Eds.) Endangered and Threatened Wildlife of New Jersey (pp. 40-45) Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.MINAET-SINAC. (2004). Plan de manejo del Parque Nacional Tortuguero – Costa Rica. F.Bermúdez & C.Hernández. (Eds.) Guápiles, Limón. Retrieved from http://www.acto.go.cr/descargas/Elaborac_Plan_Man_Visit_PNT.pdf

In January 2006 Global Vision International Costa Rica (GVICR) began an ongoing long-term study of boat traffic along CP. The num-ber of visitors to PNT has seen a near 100% increase since those figures in 2003 (Table 1). Unlike the PNT waterways, the traffic stresses on CP are not strictly controlled by PNT Rang-ers, nor are they limited to the slow moving traffic tour boats and canoes, as in the National Park.

Year Total Visitors to PNT2006 103,1212007 117,6612008 134,690 Table 1 (MINAET)

The study is conducted from the biological station, approximately 2km north of the CP riv-ermouth. Surveys are conducted on a weekly basis between 06:00 and 18:00 and the days surveyed are varied as much as possible. Two

personnel conduct the survey, each taking a six hour shift, and record information on number of passengers, engine size and type, passage time, boat name and associated lodge or com-pany, each time a boat passes the station.

Since the survey started in January 2006 there have been a total of 5,781 records of boats passing Caño Palma.

No. of Records by year:2006* 895 2007 14242008 1845 2009 1617

*Data for 2006 is presented for illustrative purposes for total records, but is not used in further analysis due to a high variation in effort.

Monthly estimates were determined by av-eraging the total activity recorded during the surveys over the months in which they were conducted.The PMV figures for usage of CP (max. 60

boats per day) are adjusted for variations in

month duration.Figure1 represents the year on year estimat-

ed number of boats passing Caño Palma per month over the period 2007-2009.The PMV designates time category restric-

tions for CP to distribute the stresses evenly over the day, with 10 boats permitted per time category. These data are displayed in Fig. 2. In contrast to PNT, Caño Palma has a level of

private traffic which the data reflects: between 2007-2009 67% of boats using the canal were tourist related, and 33% were private boats.Data collated over the three years shows that

the number of boats passing Caño Palma ex-ceeds these limits during the hours of 06:00–08:00, 08:00-12:00 and again from 16:00-18:00.The increase in the number of boats utilizing

the canal appear to follow tourism recorded in Tortuguero (see Figures 3-5).

Overflow of boats onto Caño Palma from restrictive management of PNT?Even though total daily limits may not be exceeded, there is an apparent bias of activity during times that wildlife is more active and at times when people are going to and from the lodges for work purposes.Tortuguero has visitors all year round; however it is appar-ent from the data collected that there are main tourist peaks between December to March and July to August, thus in-creasing boat traffic.Although CP is not within the boundaries of PNT it has been regarded by the PMV as an area of overflow when demand for PNT canals exceeds the limits set by MINAET. The data presented here appears to confirm that CP is heavily uti-lized for tourism purposes.Both MINAET figures and data collected by GVICR indi-cate that boat-traffic and tourism are consistently increas-ing. Such increases have the potential for environmental impacts, both through direct and indirect actions of the ecotourism industryPossible early indications of change are beginning to emerge through other studies conducted by GVICR. Diversity of aquatic avifauna surveyed on CP is lower than correspond-ing surveys on PNT canals. Types of species are also known to be different. For example, Nyctanassa violacea, a species known to nest in residential areas (Liguori, 2003), has been regularly recorded on CP (251 records) between 2007-09, but not in PNT (16 records) (GVICR, unpublished). In 2009 GVICR also first recorded the presence of Quiscalus mexicanus - a species common to urbanized and degraded areas - at the station ( Jones et al, 2009). Whilst inconclusive, bird species are known to be good in-dicator species and this area warrants further investigation, especially in light of the fact that the major difference be-tween PNT and CP is human presence and utilization.Such differences make the control of these areas a cause for concern. It is imperative to continue monitoring the num-ber of boats associated with tourism utilizing Caño Palma, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the current manage-ment strategies. However the conflict between the need to protect the area and the need for tourism – which gen-erates revenue - will be a constant issue. The number of visitors is on the increase, and no matter how many legal restrictions are placed on the area, there has to be practical control and implementation of the restrictions.Interestingly, restrictions imposed to provide relief and protection to the area of PNT appears here to have a wider spread impact as demand continues to increase. The over-arching implication of this study appears to be the need for a holistic approach management and enforcement in the area. Positively, both protected areas are managed and considered together by MINAET and so it is hoped that increased knowledge of the area, can help to inform man-agement decisions to prevent the increasing popularity of PNT irreversibly impacting the surrounding area.

Eco Tourism on the increase

MINAET

Author Contacts: GVI Costa Rica costarica@gvi.co.ukThe GVI Costa Rica Caño Palma Human Impact Study is carried out in partnership with the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET). GVI Costa Rica wish to thank all the staff and volunteers who have contributed to the collection of data. Poster design: Theropod Design www.theropoddesign.co.uk

Figure 1: Year on year estimated number of boats passing Caño Palma per month, over the period 2007-2009.

Figure 2: Boat traffic during set time categories stipulated in the PNT management plan, over 85 surveys.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Estim

ated

num

ber o

f boa

ts

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

Time Category1000

800

600

400

200

0

Estim

ated

num

ber o

f boa

ts

Tota

l visi

tors

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

20000180001600014000120001000080006000400020000

Figure 3: Comparison of number of boats on Caño Palma with number of visitors to Tortuguero National Park, 2007

Figure 4: Comparison of number of boats on Caño Palma with number of visitors to Tortuguero National Park, 2008

Estim

ated

num

ber o

f boa

ts

Tota

l visi

tors

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

20000

18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

Estim

ated

num

ber o

f boa

ts

Tota

l visi

tors

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

Figure 5: Comparison of number of boats on Caño Palma with number of visitors to Tortuguero National Park, 2009