Cultural tourism provides an additional source of income for the local community. Guided tours promote community traditions, art of fishing and wealth of natural resources. However, if not well controlled and based upon with strong values and rules, recreational fishing can be unsustainable and a source of local conflict.

The Consorcio Por la Mar R.L developed guided visits to learn about the culture of being a small scale fisher in Costa Rica.

The policy that regulates the recognition of a Marine Responsible Fishing Areas (MRFA) is under the control of INCOPESCA, the National Fishing and Aquaculture Institute. In 2009, CoopeTárcoles R.L requested the Costa Rican government to recognize a MRFA in their fishing territory, which was approved in 2011.

The recognition of this area and fishers rights helps to conserve both the marine biodiversity and the cultural identity of the local community.

The results of our demonstrative models provide us with recommendations to improve national public policy and strengthen public agencies. The components of this program are:

1. Identification of problems and potential solutions. We conduct participatory research that engages both experts and local knowledge.

2. Evaluation of working arena. We develop a stakeholder map and an assessment to have the political context and identify key allies, including our community partners.

3. Work plan design. We design a plan (strategies and actions) aligned with national goals and international agreements, using the most best information available.

4. Work plan implementation. We implement and evaluate our activities and strategies to ensure our impact is strengthening public policy and agencies.

Currently, we have five strategies: capacity building for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture; the creation of the National Prize for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture; the strengthening public participation in fisheries management and research; and the alignment of local actions to international agreements and instruments (Aichi Goals, SDG14, and FAO SSF Guidelines).

Conducting surveys with tourists or residents creates understanding of local issues, such as waste management, coastal development as well as insight in usage of ecosystem service. Moreover, a willingness-to-pay (WTP) for nature conservation can be established through Choice Experiments. Valuation of priority ecosystem goods and services, also by other means then WTP, are combined to arrive at an estimate of the Total Economic Value (TEV) following the TEEB framework. Results are used in applications, such as scenarios, valuemaps and decision support systems.

In collaboration with fishers and key local stakeholders, we design, implement, and monitor marine reserves to foster the recovery of fisheries and marine ecosystems, both within and beyond the reserves. This building block has three branches:

1. Design. We have workshops with resource-users to present the marine reserves theory and to design the map of uses and ecosystems. We then conduct acceptance and cost analyses. We define the objectives of the reserves, select the best sites to meet these objectives, and finally define operation procedures, financial sustainability plans, and formal agreements with the cooperatives.

2. Monitoring and evaluation. We select indicators and monitoring methodologies to collect the data. Then, we train the community in the monitoring techniques so they can collect data, evaluate progress, and engage in the process.

3. Management. We support our community partners in all the paper work to make the reserve official, as well as to elaborate and refine operational plans for the success and adaptive management of the reserve. 

We have 79,500 marine hectares protected, more than 300 species monitored, and 100 Mexican fishers (including 18 women) trained in submarine and oceanographic monitoring techniques.