Is it possible to demonstrate that shark diving can become more profitable than shark fishing? : identifying economic values and trends in the fishing and diving industries of southern Thailand

Verkefnið er unnið við Háskólasetur Vestfjarða Verkefnið er lokað til 1.1.2017.A number of studies show that the economic value of sharks as a non-consumptive resource is far more valuable than the income generated through the consumed sharks, as the living sharks can be re-visited repeatedly throughout their entire life span. In this thesis shark landing observations at the port of Songkhla (Thailand) were combined with various interviews and surveys adressing both shark-based industries in Southern Thailand to elucidate the probability of shark diving ultimately becoming more economically feasible than shark fishing. The results revealed that the catch composition was greatly dominated by Chilscyllium spp., while the formerly plentiful neritic sharks, and a propular species in the diving community, represented only a minor part of the total quantity. Around 50% of the entire quantity was likely to be juvenile sharks and due to resource depletion most sharks were harvested in Indonesian waters by offshore large-scale trawlers. Diver respondents were on average willing to pay an additional US$ 11.70 for every dive, assuming it included high biodiversity and the presence of sharks, which potentially could yield nearly twice the economic return compared to the annual shark fishery production of Thailand. Both industries confirmed that the shark stocks had been in rapid and obvious decline in 10-15 years, which would only intensify with time under the current fishery regulations and culminate in local extinction of numerous of shark species, thus, limiting the growth of shark diving in Thailand. As the results revealed that shark diving eventually could become economically more viable than shark fishing, the management recommendations included a complete trawler ban concerted with a buyback trawler plan, marine national park enforcement and buffer zones to ensure the long-term sustainable use of sharks as a non-consumptive resource in Thailand