Avoiding and reversing “paper parks”: integrating fishers’ compliance into conservation efforts

Abstract: Adrian’s project looks into compliance as related to conservation. Conservation is inherently about influencing peoples’ behaviour towards nature; therefore users’ compliance is critical for effective conservation. Adrian focuses on understanding and managing fishers’ compliance with marine protected areas. His work is applicable to a broad range of activities in both marine and terrestrial environments. Adrian draws on knowledge from multiple fields such as psychology and economics, and complements it with empirical data from case studies in his native Costa Rica. Adrian’s work analyses fishers’ compliance through two different contexts: coastal small-scale fisheries, and offshore commercial fisheries. Feel free to attend this seminar, and to read Adrian’s work visit: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adrian_Arias3

Bio: Adrian grew up around saltwater in Costa Rica. He gained his undergraduate degree in Biology with emphasis on sustainable development, and later completed a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management at JCU. After finishing his master’s Adrian returned to Latin America and worked with a wide range of marine topics such as fisheries, tourism, coastal reforestation, science communication, and marine spatial planning. Back again in JCU, Adrian examines fishers’ compliance with marine protected areas, with a particular interest in improving compliance management.