Abstract

During the late 1980s, the Molinière-Beauséjour area was identified as a priority area for inclusion in a System of National Parks and Protected Areas for Grenada. This 0.6 km2 area was considered to contain the healthiest reefs in Grenada. While pristine in condition and attracting many visitors and divers, at the same time, the reefs and their near shore resources were threatened by intense fishing worsened by the accessibility of the resources. The open access of these different uses led to significant user conflicts, among fishermen and between fishermen and tourism users. Therefore, the Molinière-Beauséjour Marine Protected Area (MB MPA) was legally declared in 2001 with the primary purpose of providing a management framework to reduce user conflicts as well as protect coral reefs and associated resources. Due to the declining importance of fishing livelihoods to MPA communities caused by continued resource degradation and heavy fishing pressure, information that suggests that some people feel that the benefits brought by the existence of the MPA are mostly for tourists. The fact that people have high expectations from tourism development related to the MPA, the importance of identifying options for alternative livelihoods in the six communities surround-ing the MBMPA was targeted for focus in the CERMES-implemented, Socio-economic Monitoring by Caribbean Challenge MPA Managers project (CC SocMon). This paper reports on monitoring conducted to assess MPA impacts on communities’ livelihoods, strengthen community participation in MPA management and ownership by examining potential linkages between resource protection and livelihoods, and identify socio-economic conditions enabling alternative livelihood options

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