Applying Wildlife Conservation Tourism to Marine Endangered Species: Identifying Indicators for Triple Bottom Line Sustainability

Abstract

University of Washington Abstract Applying Wildlife Conservation Tourism to Marine Endangered Species: Identifying Indicators for Triple Bottom Line Sustainability Kayla N. Boyes Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. Marc L. Miller School of Marine and Environmental Affairs As global marine biodiversity rapidly decreases, it has become apparent that traditional ecological conservation practices that discourage human interaction with the natural environment are alone insufficient for long term wildlife and ecosystem protection. Tourism and recreation has emerged as an underutilized tool that can be applied in conjunction with existing marine wildlife management strategies. In this thesis, the field of wildlife conservation tourism (WCT) is established as an ecological conservation strategy that promotes and prioritizes endangered species conservation through meaningful interactions with tourists. WCT has great potential to provide critical educational and financial support for marine wildlife conservation while also providing an enriching and inspiring experience for tourists and a viable livelihood for tourism brokers. Framed within the human-artifactual-natural (HANS) system, this thesis identifies triple bottom line indicators that can be used to evaluate the efficacy of WCT enterprises to ensure sustainable marine wildlife management. The goal of this thesis is to utilize interdisciplinary literature to identify and extract key indicators to facilitate ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable wildlife conservation tourism for the preservation and recovery of marine endangered species.