Island Villagers’ Willingness to Work or Pay for Sustainability of a Marine Fishery Reserve: Case of San Miguel Island,Philippines

Establishment of marine reserves or marine protected areas (MPAs) has emerged as a major coastal resource management tool in the Philippines. A major sustainability constraint is the enforcement of MPA and fisheries regulations. We contribute to the literature of using stated preference methods to investigate the local residents’ willingness to work (WTW) and willingness to pay (WTP) for the continued existence of the San Miguel Island (SMI) fishery reserve in Bicol Region, Philippines. We surveyed 435 respondents in three villages. The lower-bound mean WTW is 3.5 days/mo for residents in the “owner” village and 1.9 days/mo for residents in adjacent villages. Using a fraction of mean daily income to impute the monetary equivalent of WTW, the result is more than 3 times higher than the Php16 to 25/mo (US$0.34 to 0.75/mo) estimated mean WTP. We hypothesize that labor market in this rural village is incomplete so residents have stronger preference for money than for time. However, further investigation on the opportunity cost of time and understanding the labor market is warranted when using WTW in a valuation framework. Some policy implications are: (1) considering use of voluntary labor as management option for MPAs and (2) establishing “own village” MPAs may increase residents’ conservation value.     

Risk assessment for fire safety considering characteristic evacuees and smoke movement in marine fires

In the safety design of marine systems, the matter of human life in the event of a marine fire must be considered. It may be difficult to establish a safe evacuation system because a characteristic behavioral pattern based on human factors is elusive. This study consists of three analyses on (1) the state of smoke diffusion, calculated by the use of a two-layer zone model, (2) evacuation movements, simulated by a group behavioral model, and considering the occurrence of panic and the smoke spreading phase, and (3) the risk index for safety assessment using the results of smoke diffusion and escape movements. This risk index can be used for comparisons between various safety systems, and its validity is confirmed by an evacuation model of common spaces on a typical cruise ship.