THE ECONOMICS OF SHARK DIVING TOURISM AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO SHARK CONSERVATION IN THE INDIAN OCEAN Johanna Sophie Zimmerhackel MSc Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries Science BSc Biology This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia School of Agriculture and Environment Discipline of Environmental Economics 2019 Thesis Declaration THESIS DECLARATION I, Johanna Sophie Zimmerhackel, certify that: This thesis has been substantially accomplished during enrolment in the degree. This thesis does not contain material which has been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution. No part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of The University of Western Australia and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. This thesis does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text and, where relevant, in the declaration that follows. The work(s) are not in any way a violation or infringement of any copyright, trademark, patent, or other rights whatsoever of any person. The research involving human data reported in this thesis was assessed and approved by The University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee. Approval #: RA/4/1/8170 and RA/4/1/9234. The following approvals were obtained prior to commencing the relevant work described in this thesis: - Permit to conduct research in Malaysia approved by the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department: UPE 40/200/19/3476 i Thesis Declaration The work described in this thesis was funded by - Australian Government Research Training fees offset and a stipend scholarship - University of Western Australia - Centre for Excellence in Environmental Decisions – Grant no. CE11ø1ø14 - PEW Charitable Trust - Shark Conservation Fund - Global FinPrint Project, funded by the Paul G. Allen Foundation, US – Grant no. 11861 This thesis contains published work and/or work prepared for publication, some of which has been co-authored. Signature: Date: 13/11/2019 ii A b s t r a c t ABSTRACT Tourism based on diving with sharks has grown rapidly over the past decade in many places around the world. At the same time, many shark populations are facing overexploitation from fisheries, prompting the need for more sustainable management and conservation strategies for sharks. This thesis aims to improve decision making about shark conservation strategies in a setting where shark diving tourism and (legal and illegal) shark fisheries co-exist. To achieve this aim, various market and non-market valuation techniques were used to (i) contribute to the understanding of the economic value of sharks and (ii) assess how different shark conservation strategies influence the economic benefits associated with shark diving tourism. This thesis uses four case studies at two sites in the Indian Ocean: the Semporna region in Malaysian Borneo and the Republic of the Maldives. We used surveys with tourists and dive operators to estimate the market values associated with shark diving tourism. Business revenues from shark diving tourism in the Maldives and Semporna were substantial and diverse. These benefits included direct revenues for a variety of businesses such as dive operators, hotels, restaurants, domestic transport, and souvenir shops. We estimated the direct revenues for local businesses to be USD 51.4 million in the Maldives. In Semporna, these revenues accounted for USD 9.8 million and USD 16.6 million in 2012 and 2018, respectively. Additionally, shark diving tourism generated tax revenues and provided jobs to local communities. Moreover, the results for the Maldives indicated that the business revenues from shark diving had doubled over the last 24 years and provided the first empirical evidence for increased economic benefits from shark diving tourism at a specific location over a long time period. We estimated dive tourists’ willingness to pay a daily access fee, using the contingent valuation method with data from 2012 and 2018. Interval regression models revealed a willingness to pay of USD 11.89 and USD 8.28 for a dive tourist with average characteristics in 2012 and 2018, iii A b s t r a c t respectively. Revenues from such a fee could be used to finance programs to generate community support and enforcement of a shark and ray fishing ban in the Semporna region. We also used travel cost and contingent behaviour methods to estimate how trip demand, tourists’ welfare and the economic benefits from shark diving are influenced by (a) the implementation of a new shark fishing ban, and (b) the success or failure of long-term management of shark fishing bans. This thesis created for the first time a link between policy changes and the economic benefits from shark diving tourism. In Semporna, we estimated a 47% increase in demand for shark diving tourism between current conditions (status quo) and a shark and ray sanctuary scenario. This represents a change in annual business revenues for the local tourism sector from USD 35.1 million under status quo to USD 51.6 million if a shark and ray sanctuary was implemented. In the Maldives, our results show that increasing shark abundance could raise dive trip demand by 15%. This could result in an increase of dive tourists’ welfare by USD 58 million and raise economic benefits for the dive-tourism industry by over USD 6 million annually. Conversely, we found that dive tourists would respond to scenarios where shark populations decline, where dive tourists observe illegal fishing, or where dive operators lack engagement in shark conservation, with a reduction of up to 56% in their dive trip demand. Compared to the status quo, this decline could cause economic losses of more than USD 24 million annually to the dive tourism industry. Results of this thesis provide evidence for the importance of a sustainable management of sharks for local tourism businesses. We suggest that national authorities should recognise the various economic benefits that sharks and the effective management of shark populations provide. We furthermore recommend that sufficient revenues generated from shark diving tourism are re-invested into maintaining and recovering shark populations. This involves a focus on the design of appropriate conservation strategies, a well-regulated shark diving industry, the enforcement of regulations and ongoing involvement with fisher-communities. iv Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Thesis declaration............................................................................................................... i Abstract ............................................................................................................................ iii Table of contents ............................................................................................................... v List of tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of figures .................................................................................................................. xii List of acronyms ............................................................................................................. xiii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ xiv Authorship declaration: Co-authored publications ......................................................... xv Introduction ......................................................................................... 21 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................... 21 1.1.1 Shark diving tourism ................................................................................. 21 1.1.2 Threats and conservation........................................................................... 22 1.1.3 The economic value of sharks ................................................................... 24 1.2 Thesis aims and objectives................................................................................ 27 1.3 Case studies ....................................................................................................... 28 1.4 Thesis structure ................................................................................................. 29 1.5 References ......................................................................................................... 30 Shark diving tourism as a financing mechanism for shark conservation strategies in Malaysia ............................................................................. 33 2.1 Abstract ............................................................................................................. 34 2.2 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 34 2.3 Methods............................................................................................................. 37 2.3.1 Study site ................................................................................................... 37 v Table of contents 2.3.2 Surveys .....................................................................................................