The purpose of this action is to give nature a break and let it restore itself. The government has created many protected national parks and animals sanctuaries around the country.
It is a fascinating archipelago of 42 islands in the Gulf of Thailand, northwest of Koh Samui. The only way to get inside the national park is with the government-approved tour boats. We booked a tour with Grand Sea Tours company. From the first moment, the team impressed us with their professionalism and friendliness. The staff made everything to make sure the guests felt comfortable. They took care of many small details, like spraying people with the freshwater after snorkelling helping to wash feet and shoes from the sand.
But what makes a company stand out as a responsible travel organization? The answer is properly trained staff. The government can create many national parks, spend a lot of money on conservation programs, however, it all would have no value without properly trained personnel.
Companies should educate and train their guides about the environment of the given place. They should teach them how to work with nature and wildlife.
Guides should also know how to explain things to travelers. They should also make sure guests follow all the rules.
Back to the story about my Thailand trip. How did I know that our travel company was an eco-responsible operator? Before letting anyone out the guides gave instructions on how to behave in the water.
They explained about the sea urchins and strictly prohibited to step on the stones or corals. The guides were on guard the whole time we were in the water. By stones they actually meant corals. This was the first sign to me that we chose the right company for this tour. The guides were definitely conscious of the environment. Every time we were getting off the boat on the island, they asked everyone to leave the plastic water bottles on the boat or to make sure to bring them back.
The staff repeated it every time we disembarked on the shore. Because information regarding the development of Shrimp Watching tourism and the locals understanding about parading shrimp have never been documented, these interviews provide novel information. Locals, tourists, and stakeholders who are directly involved with an ecotourism industry are key players in conservation and management. Understanding their thoughts about parading shrimp will allow us to develop a sustainable plan for ecotourism management.
We conducted a survey using a questionnaire. We constructed the questionnaire following the suggestions from De Vaus ; Box 7. The questions were designed to mainly understand:.
We surveyed three main groups: 1 locals, who do not directly profit from ecotourism, 2 tourists, and 3 stakeholders business owners , who directly profit from ecotourism, such as tourist guides, and local entrepreneurs who work at the tourist site. The questionnaire consisted of four parts.
The first part was used to describe the groups and collect demographic data. The second part was used to identify the understanding and basic knowledge of the parading shrimp including concerns about the present status of the parading shrimp population.
The third part was used to identify how people valued parading shrimp in terms of economics, environment, and culture. The fourth and final part was used to understand how much people knew about the threats for the parading shrimp and are willing to modify their behavior for the shrimp.
Questions were posed using a 5-point Likert-scale. We tested the reliability and internal consistency of the Likert-scale question with Cronbach's alpha coefficient Cronbach, This study provides vital information to help us understand the attitudes toward parading shrimp in three key parties that will ultimately be affected by the development of a sustainable management plan. We spent about 3 h interviewing the director of the Nature and Wildlife Education Center at Ubon Ratchathani to learn about the development of Shrimp Watching tourism in Thailand.
These two villages are the two locations where the shrimp leave the water. For the questionnaire, we collected data by interviewing each participant in person. Before the interview, we asked for permission from participants and told them about their conditions for participation which were approved by the UCLA Institutional Review Board Protocol We spent no more than 15 min interviewing each participant.
Since most locals spoke neither Thai nor English, we hired local translators to help conduct the interviews. We used descriptive statistics to describe the participants' demographic data. For the Likert-scale questions, we used the Kruskal-Wallis test to test for differences in the mean rank of each question among three different study groups locals, tourists, and stakeholders.
All data analysis were conducted in R 4. Since , the director of the Nature and Wildlife Education Center at Ubon Ratchathani has been replaced several times resulting in inconsistent management. However, from to the present, every management decision for this tourist site has been decided solely by the government staff. Locals and stakeholders have played no role in developing any ecotourism management plan. The present management plan from —present includes organizing the government staff members to take care of the tourist's safety during the tourist season and educating tourists with information posters about the shrimp parading and how should tourists behave while watching the shrimp.
The only management plan that focuses on the mitigation of anthropogenic threats on the shrimp is the prohibition of harvesting the parading shrimp in the tourist site. From —present, locals and schoolchildren from many villages around the tourist site have been invited to join the opening ceremony of the Shrimp Parading festival. Students have been involved in designing a shrimp mascot costume to represent the environmental issues in that area Figure 2B.
Locals who are not students are invited to sell their products e. Long before , locals knew about the terrestrial shrimp migration. They caught the parading shrimp for food and developed several recipes. One of the most popular is Koi-Kung Thai: , the local traditional Northeastern Thai food which is made from raw shrimp marinated with lime juice Figure 4A. Recently, locals composed a song about the present status and conservation of parading shrimp. Together, these actions illustrate the development of local culture associated with shrimp.
Figure 4. A Koi-Kung, a local Northeastern Thai dish, made from parading shrimp. This carving can be seen only in the dry season March —April when the river dries up. Of the survey participants, Within each group, the sex ratio of the locals was around female: male , while the tourist group was , and the stakeholder group was Most of the participants were between 18 and 49 years. In the tourist and stakeholder groups, most of the respondent's highest education was high school They also would like to learn more about the parading shrimp.
Most participants were aware that the parading shrimp population was vulnerable. Table 2. Summary of participants' knowledge about the parading shrimp, their awareness, and their willingness to learn more about the shrimp. All three groups of participants have a fair level of knowledge regarding the roles of the parading shrimp in the freshwater ecosystem Table 3 ; Questions 1—3. They all believed that the shrimp play potentially important roles in freshwater ecosystems, are part of local cultures, and important to the local economy.
Locals agreed that shrimp were important for tourism, but when asked about the local economy, locals felt neutral about the role of the shrimp in the local economy Table 3 ; Questions 6—7. This may reflect the fact that locals have not been actively involved in the shrimp ecotourism, and that they do not economically benefit from this ecotourism. Table 3. Few interviewees knew about the threats to the parading shrimp, and almost no one knew that tourist's lights were a major threat Table 4.
Locals realized that human consumption can harm the shrimp population and trampling on the shrimp might be a threat; by contrast tourists and stakeholders felt neutral about these actions Table 4. Moreover, most participants responded positively toward adjusting their behavior to help the shrimp by staying on the trail or designed areas and not touching the shrimp.
They felt neutral about being quiet, not using a personal flashlight, and not using flash photography while watching the shrimp parade Table 5. Table 4. Table 5. Invertebrates play several essential roles in ecosystem; however, they are largely ignored by public especially in the ecotourism sector Huntly et al. One of the reasons is that they are not charismatic like birds and mammals Clark and May, Furthermore, invertebrates have been viewed as an invasive species to humans and usually are eradicated without animal welfare regulation Clark, However, with few exceptions, the effort has rarely been successful.
Our research demonstrates that tourists are interested in a small freshwater shrimp that engage in mass migration and thus this is one of few examples of an ecotourism event focused on an invertebrate. We suggest that these freshwater shrimp in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand could be used as a flagship species for both ecotourism and conservation.
Schlegel et al. To increase the conservation value, information regarding local insects should be included in primary school curriculum because this is when students pay most attention to their local environment and biodiversity Lindemann-Matthies, ; Jaun-Holderegger, Therefore, we suggest the educational staff in Ubon Ratchathani create curriculum that uses the parading shrimp and their unique migratory behavior to teach primary school students Wolff and Skarstein, This should include information about shrimp biology, their ecological roles, and the roles of shrimp in their local culture and local economy e.
Following the first publication in November that described the Thai parading shrimp, there were a number of high-profile international press reports such as The New York Times, National Geographic, and Smithsonian Magazine Buehler, ; Fox, ; Preston, Hence, Macrobrachium shrimp might have potential to serve as a flagship species for freshwater conservation since they have relatives on every continent except Antarctica and Europe that engage in similar behavior Holthuis and Ng, ; Hongjamrassilp et al.
More investigation into this is warranted. Concerns regarding adverse effects of technology on animal-based tourism have increased together with the exponential improvement of technology Pacheco, ; Essen et al. In our case study, we found that light from flashlight and mobile phones that tourists use force the shrimp to walk back to the river which results in them getting washed downstream.
The consequence of this action has not been well-studied but have been hypothesized that the shrimp might end up be eaten by other predators downstream Hongjamrassilp and Blumstein, under review.
Hongjamrassilp and Blumstein, under review suggested a solution to mitigate this problem by using red or yellow cellophane as a filter to change the light color.
However, technology could also benefit the shrimp if is used properly. Our results show that technology plays role in promoting the parading shrimp.
Unfortunately, we found no websites that provide correct scientific information about the parading shrimp. Therefore, we suggest that the government should take this opportunity to create an online site that provides information about the shrimp, promotes shrimp ecotourism, and provides sustainable tourism guidelines. Sustainable ecotourism requires collaboration between private stakeholders and government sectors Bhuiyan et al.
Moreover, locals' understandings and attitudes toward their resources are key factors to create sustainability Vincent and Thompson, Our results indicated that all three main groups in this study locals, stakeholders, and tourists were concerned that the shrimp are vulnerable to declines, and that they would like to learn more about the shrimp.
Even though they realized that the shrimp are part of the local culture, economy and ecosystem services, their knowledge regarding the roles of shrimp in the freshwater ecosystem was modest. Locals valued the shrimp in terms of culture, economy, and the environment less than tourists and stakeholders. Moreover, most of them did not realize that light from a flashlight is a threat to the shrimp, and they felt neutral toward the plan to reduce the use of personal flashlights to mitigate the effect of tourists on shrimp.
We discuss the issues for Shrimp Watching tourism and make suggestions for further management below. The survey results clearly show that tourists, stakeholders, and locals felt neutral about their knowledge regarding the shrimp. Moreover, they did not know that a key threat to the shrimp comes from the lights used by tourists.
These results are not surprising because when the government promoted this Shrimp Watching in —, little was known about the fundamental biology of the shrimp and nothing was known about anthropogenic threats to the shrimp.
The first study studying parading shrimp biology and their responses to the anthropogenic threats came out in , two decades after this ecotourism event was created Hongjamrassilp et al. This Shrimp Watching tourism in Thailand is a case study showing the importance of developing a formal understanding of the effect of anthropogenic impacts on animals to properly manage them. All three groups in this survey indicated that they were aware of decreasing shrimp populations, and they were willing to learn more about the shrimp.
Based on this, we suggest that government managers could reduce anthropogenic disturbances on the parading shrimp by instating targeted educational programs aimed at each of the three participant groups. Tourists and stakeholders directly contact the shrimp and are unaware that light from their flashlights can harm the shrimp.
This might be the reason why they felt neutral about the suggestion to do not use a personal flashlight and flash photography while watching the shrimp. However, they agreed to stay on the trail. Therefore, education must be targeted to inform these groups about the negative impacts of the personal flashlight use and flash photography.
Hongjamrassilp and Blumstein, under review proposed creating three different zones for tourists. Tourists can use their flashlight and flash photography at one of the zones, but not the others. If successful, this plan could minimize the anthropogenic effects while maximizing tourist's desires to see the shrimp. Sustainable ecotourism requires community members to obtain economic benefits from ecotourism Vincent and Thompson, ; Li, This means they should first understand and value their natural resources.
However, our results suggest that locals not otherwise involved in the ecotourism industry valued the shrimp less than the other two groups. This might be a function of differences in education or differences in economic status. Our results indicate that In other parts of the world, low education is associated with low socioeconomic status e.
Perhaps the neutrality of locals toward the tourism is because they do not obtain enough economic benefits from it. Other research has shown that if locals do not obtain sufficient benefits, it may lead to unsustainable ecotourism Talsma and Molenbroek, ; Thanvisitthpon, We suggest that the government should support locals by educating them about the economic values of the shrimp and providing key information on how to conserve them.
Importantly, however, the government has an important role in stimulating job creation around shrimp ecotourism so as to increase the number of individuals that benefit from it. Doing so may help increase the desire of locals to conserve this remarkable natural phenomenon.
While we have identified key roles for the government in helping to create more sustainable shrimp ecotourism, we recognize that this is a very top-down approach.
Top-down management has been shown in other countries to be associated with unsustainable ecotourism Garrod, ; Talsma and Molenbroek, In Thailand, research has shown top-down tourism development results in unsustainable outcomes and less effective Ping, n. One of the reasons is that locals do not get enough economic benefit from that tourism Thanvisitthpon, On the other hand, creating a more bottom-up management, where locals and stakeholders participate in planning and development, provides an opportunity to improve the likelihood of a sustainable outcome Middleton, ; Kopolratana, ; Talsma and Molenbroek, ; Theerapappisit, A case study in Jordan demonstrated that bottom-up approach can lead to sustainable cultural tourism Jamhawi and Hajahjah, However, bottom-up approach alone could also lead to several problems.
For example, locals sometimes lack of understanding regarding the concept of sustainability and knowledge about their own resources Victurine, In our case study, we found that the locals do not really understand about the threats to the shrimp and the importance of the shrimp in environment, cultural, and economy aspects.
This can result in ineffective plan development from locals who might want to only use the resource to get benefit for their own but do not aware about next generations. Another example is the issue regarding monopolization of resources.
In Thailand, it has been known that the management power in community or ability to access resources is not equally distributed. People with good connections with the TAO can access more resources than others Leksakundilok and Hirsch, Therefore, we suggest that the government should combine bottom-up and top-down approaches whereby the government, acting as the leader, actively involves the local community and stakeholders to plan and manage the tourist site for sustainable use Wisansing, ; Kubickova and Campbell, There are a number of issues that should be considered when applying a top-down and bottom-up approach, especially in developing countries.
We will discuss two main examples. Even though the top-down and bottom-up approach aims to equally involve stakeholders and locals during the process of management plan development, in many cases, stakeholders and locals actually act as consultants rather than participants and their input has not always been used during plan development.
This pseudo-participation commonly occurs in many case studies from developing countries Mowforth and Munt, Second, there is fear among locals and stakeholders of the authority power, and this impedes active collaboration. For instance, a case study from The Doi Tung Development Project in Thailand shows that when there is conflict of interest, it is difficult for locals to negotiate with authorities because they fear the authority's power Theerapappisit, This cultural issue can be observed throughout Thailand and other developing countries such as Cambodia and Indonesia Cole, ; Ellis and Sheridan, ; Palmer and Chuamuangphan, More discussions regarding implementation problems of top-down and bottom-up approach can be seen in Leksakundilok and Hirsch and Theerapappisit Governmental officials must be aware of these if they want to have a chance at creating truly sustainable management plans.
We have illustrated, with this case study, how an understanding of the biology of animals as well as an understanding of the people involved in ecotourism are essential for the scientific management of ecotourism and the creation of sustainable tourism.
Here we propose a process to create sustainable wildlife ecotourism, which includes integrating top-down and bottom-up approaches Figure 5. While we describe this process generally, it can be applied to manage parading shrimp, and it also could be applied to other targets of ecotourism including plants and ecosystems.
This process involves four steps. Figure 5. Four-step framework to develop a sustainable wildlife ecotourism management plan. First, as a fundamental step of all conservation and management, it is essential to critically study biology and ecology e. Often, this will be funded by the government or conducted by government researchers.
Combined with this, surveys must be used to develop an understanding of how locals and stakeholders, who have an essential role in sustainable management, value the focal species along three major dimensions: culture, economy, and environment.
Their understanding about their resources and their engagement are essential for successful conservation and management Boiral and Heras-Saizarbitoria, ; Sterling et al. Built into this process is evaluation Treephan et al. Second, it is essential to identify potential anthropogenic threats and study how these threats affect the focal animals Tapper, ; Blumstein et al. Again, this will often be funded by the government or conducted by government researchers.
With these data, surveys can be used to develop an understanding of the knowledge of locals and stakeholders about these threats. And again, educational materials and evaluation will ensure that locals and stakeholders understand the threats to the species. Depending upon existing knowledge of the system being studied, this process can be combined with the above process.
A certificate program, educational program, or exam can be used to screen participants who wish to participate in step 3. Third, the government, working together with certified locals and stakeholders, can develop a management plan to mitigate the anthropogenic threats on the focal species based on the knowledge of threats generated from targeted research Wisansing, ; Kubickova and Campbell, This process will likely involve several iterations to ensure that locals and stakeholders support the proposed management actions, and, if required, the management action have remediations built in so as to not negatively affect the local economy.
Finally, the management plan should be implemented and re-evaluated over time Salafsky et al. If the management plan is not effective in maintaining the biological or ecological resource e.
Throughout, the government is working closely with those who will be most affected by management to generate sustainable management solutions. By working together, and committing to adaptive management Holling, ; Dreiss et al. Moreover, our suggested management framework could be used to develop a management strategy during developing of a new wildlife ecotourism, especially in developing countries.
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements. WH and DB designed the study and wrote and edited the manuscript.
WH and PT collected survey and interview data. WH analyzed the data. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version. Rerngchai Hongjamrassilp. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
We are grateful for the dedicated assistance of Mrs. Wassana Maiphrom, Mr. Narong Mangsachat, Ms. Waraphon Thipauthai, Ms. Kitiwara Paramat, Mrs. We thank the UCLA statistical consulting center for providing suggestions regarding statistical analysis. We thank Dana Williams, Daniel S. Cooper, and two reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. American Psychological Association Education and Socioeconomic Status.
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