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Impacts of Fish Tourism

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Ecotourism’s Promise and Peril

Abstract

There is a growing nature tourism industry that encourages and enables people to interact with fish. Fish provide an important source of food for humans as well as play an important role in regulating ecosystems. Compared to the many studies that focus on potential impacts of tourism on terrestrial animals, there are relatively few that have focused on fish tourism. We describe how fish respond to divers and snorkelers as well as how they respond to food provisioning by ecotourists by focusing on the physiological, behavioral, and community impacts of these non-extractive uses. We hope that by clearly articulating the chain of potential impacts, tourism operators and tourists can minimize their impacts and protect both the fish and the aquatic community in ways that ultimately facilitate both sustainable tourism and habitat and species protection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Ecology, and Life and Earth Sciences Department, University of Brasília, Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil

    Eduardo Bessa

  2. Graduate Program in Evolutionary Biology, Sector of Biological Sciences and Health, State University of Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil

    Fernanda Silva

  3. Graduate program in Environment and Regional Development, Anhanguera-Uniderp University, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    José Sabino

Authors
  1. Eduardo Bessa
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  2. Fernanda Silva
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  3. José Sabino
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Bessa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and The Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Daniel T. Blumstein

  2. Ifremer, UMR MARBEC, Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation, Laboratory of Adaptation and Adaptability of Animals and Systems, Palavas-les-Flots, France

    Benjamin Geffroy

  3. Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Diogo S. M. Samia

  4. Graduate Program in Ecology, and Life and Earth Sciences Department, University of Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil

    Eduardo Bessa

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Bessa, E., Silva, F., Sabino, J. (2017). Impacts of Fish Tourism. In: Blumstein, D., Geffroy, B., Samia, D., Bessa, E. (eds) Ecotourism’s Promise and Peril. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58331-0_5

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