Whales vs. gulls: Assessing trade-offs in wildlife and waste management in Patagonia, Argentina
Abstract
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.In Península Valdés, (Patagonia) Argentina, the consequences of
poor waste management and an overpopulation of kelp gulls has led to gulls feeding
on living southern right whales, potentially causing losses to the tourism industry
through loss in coastal quality and suboptimal right whale viewing experiences. Despite
local progress in closing waste disposal sites and culling gulls, both waste and pest
problems persist. While this problem could impact the long-term viability of the site
as a whale watching destination and present conservation concerns, little research
has been done concerning the socio-economic aspects of the problem. The present study
interviewed 650 tourists about their willingness to pay to manage the gulls versus
the waste in order to reduce the gull population and remove the risk to the whales.
This research finds that tourists favor addressing the human-driven component of the
problem, the waste, over culling the natural component of the problem, the kelp gulls.
These findings present a remarkable insight to assessing trade-offs between two management
strategies to a local problem associated with coastal development and tourism. The
results could further be broadened to other destinations facing waste and pest management
challenges in the face of growing tourism and urbanization.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9481Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.012Publication Info
Stefanski, SF; & Villasante, S (2015). Whales vs. gulls: Assessing trade-offs in wildlife and waste management in Patagonia,
Argentina. Ecosystem Services, 16. pp. 294-305. 10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.012. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9481.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Stephanie Stefanski
Teaching Assistant
My research applies resource and development economics towards measuring trade-offs
in marine resource management. My current doctoral research assesses how configuration
of rights based management influence economic, social, and ecological outcomes, with
a focus on individual transferable quota (ITQ) programs in Argentine fisheries. In
general, my research aims to assess resource management design and implementation
to develop management strategies that support coastal community

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info