Title: Issues regarding the development of recreational fisheries within a marine protected area: Case of the Nha Trang Bay MPA in Vietnam

This project reviews the current status of recreational fisheries within the Nha Trang Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Vietnam to identify the possible benefits and challenges of developing this economic sector in accordance with the mission and regulations of an MPA. The project synthesizes social-economic motivations and consequences of recreational fisheries on local communities in the MPA in order to identify impact factors for appropriate solutions for the sustainable development of the industry.

The findings show that recreational fisheries does not affect other economic activities in the MPA mostly because activities occurs in seperate areas. Furthermore, the tourism experienced benefits more than other sectors in the MPA. Recreational fisheries have the potential to create desirable alternatives for the current occupations of the local residents, because occupations such as arts and crafts, and aquaculture, which are created by the MPA’s programmes with the goal of improving local livelihoods, so far do not seem to positively impact local incomes. Therefore, in the longterm, recreational fisheries could provide greater benefits to the fisheries and tourism industries while improving the local community’s livelihood. Additionally, the findings categorized recreational fishermen into three distinct groups (i.e. the MPA residents, the local office-based professionals, and tourists) and describes their particular fishing behaviours in order to help fisheries, tourism, and MPA managers to make appropriate and sustainable development plans of recreational fisheries sector targeted to each group.