Abstract

The Ocean Foundation (TOF) staff have been working on marine conservation issues in Cuba for nearly 25 years. Cur-rent initiatives are focused on sustainable tourism and recreational fishing. Recent TOF research examined management effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Cuba’s southern archipelagos. Results illustrate the significant role of public-private partnerships between ecotourism and park management in strengthening MPA effectiveness. As tourism grows, TOF and its partners are working to advance recreational fishing policy in Cuba in order to enhance the capacity to monitor, evaluate, and manage recreational fishing for economic benefit and natural resource protection. Therefore, by examining eleven case studies of other nations’ recreational fishing policies for balancing the management of domestic and foreign visitors in contexts similar to Cuba, TOF has created a suite of evaluation matrices and policy recom-mendations for the Cuban context. Effective management of this growing sector will be key to preserving the health of Cuba’s coastal and marine resources.

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