Short-term changes in Islas Atlánticas de Galicia National Park: consequences for the recreational use of the underwater seascape.
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1
University of A Coruña, Animal, Plant, and Ecological Biology, Spain
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2
University of La Laguna, Institute of Social & Political Science, Spain
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3
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO)-Parque Nacional Illas Atlánticas, Spain
Marine tourism has greatly increased in recent years due to the growing popularity of leisure diving, wildlife observation and/or sport fishing. Snorkeling, in particular, has become a relatively popular alternative to enjoy some marine protected areas. To better manage the recreational value of underwater trails, we developed a protocol to assess the quality of the underwater seascape, and we tested this protocol in 2012 in six underwater trails in the Islas Atlánticas de Galicia National Park. Later visits to these trails (early 2015) suggested that the quality of their seascape may have dropped in a short period of time. Consequently, the quality of the trail’s seascape was reassessed in 2015 with the same protocol to provide a quantitative support to this subjective perception. Our protocol revealed significant differences between 2012 and 2015 in Perceptible Seascape Elements such as the no. and diversity of visually interesting units, and the presence of non-native/invasive species. As a result, there was a statistically significant drop in the values of the Potential Observation Index (POI, a measure of the seascape quality) recorded in four out of the six trails. Nonetheless, POI changes were small (10% lower in 2015) and the seascape quality still retained the category “Good” in every trail. Altogether, our study provides support to the use of POI as a tool to assess the visual quality of underwater seascapes. Also, our results highlight the underwater seascapes can significantly change even on a short-term.
Keywords:
Underwater seascape,
ecotourism,
snorkeling,
marine protected areas,
Seascape changes
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
5. ECOTOURISM, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OUTREACH
Citation:
Piñeiro-Corbeira
C,
Carrizosa
B,
De La Cruz Modino
R,
Olmedo
M and
Barreiro
R
(2016). Short-term changes in Islas Atlánticas de Galicia National Park: consequences for the recreational use of the underwater seascape..
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00217
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Received:
30 Apr 2016;
Published Online:
03 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Cristina Piñeiro-Corbeira, University of A Coruña, Animal, Plant, and Ecological Biology, A Coruña, Spain, c.pcorbeira@udc.es