Marine Recreation Management at Molokini Shoal MLCD: Evaluating Visitor Perceptions of Recreation Conflict and Value Orientations

Abstract

As marine recreation and tourism continues to grow, so does the importance of managing its environmental and social impacts. Recreation conflict is a significant social issue in visitor management, and there are many types of conflict situations that can be experienced including interpersonal (goal interference attributed to another) and social values conflict. Each type of conflict requires its own management approach. Value orientations (e.g., protection-use, biocentric-anthropocentric) are also examined as an approach to grouping people into homogeneous subgroups to understand differences among visitors. This thesis examines recreation conflicts reported by individuals visiting a coral reefs area in Hawaiʻi and how their value orientations toward these areas may differentially influence evaluations of conflict. The results showed that there was a high level of in-group, interpersonal conflict experienced, particularly among snorkelers. The majority of visitors had strong biocentric value orientations toward the environment, and strong protectionist value orientations toward coral reefs, whereas a minority had weak biocentric and protectionist orientations. There were no discernable anthropocentric/use- related or mixed-use value orientation groups. Results also suggest that individuals with a stronger biocentric or protectionist orientation were more likely to report conflict. Further research is required to explore the applicability of these findings to other geographical areas and activity groups.