Impact of a marine protected area to fishery profitability and income distribution. Some evidence from the Gulf of Thailand (Mu Ko Chumphon National Park versus Chumphon Province)

Methodological difficulties, particularly when multifleet-multispecies fisheries are active, explain pro parte a weak research effort on the socio-economic impact of fishery activities after the implementation of a marine protected area. Two components of the socio-economic impact have been prioritized: the fishing unit profitability and the fishery household income distribution by comparing a marine protected area (Mu Ko Chumpon National Park) and an unprotected area (Chumphon Province) in Thailand. One can distinguish three phases: a bibliographical analysis, the carrying out of fishers village monographs and of a sample-based survey of fishery households. The sampling unit was the fishery household forming one or several fishing units defined by a métier (an association of a fleet, a main fishing gear, target species): 126 households forming 225 fishing units have been surveyed.\ud The positive impact of the MPA on fishery profitability is shown by a principal component analysis which indicates that there is a lower proportion of fishing units harvesting inside or in adjacent areas of the MPA (insiders who are benefitting from implicit access rights) which face negative profit than those fishing remote from the MPA but in Chumphon Province (outsiders). This positive impact is confirmed by the performance of Chi-square tests: the insiders have relatively higher profit per fishing day than outsiders and Chi-square tests show a greater homogeneity of profits per fishing day and a lower variability for the insiders.\ud A steady social impact from the MPA on fishery income distribution is revealed by the measure of concentration using an Herfindhal index and Lorenz curves which show the more egalitarian structure of insiders regarding the operating profit and the income per fishery household