Developing a Framework to Assess SEE Turtles Ecotourism Ventures

Abstract

The Ocean Conservancy recently launched their SEE Turtles Campaign (seeturtles.org) which serves the dual purpose of inspiring sea turtle conservation ethics in tourists and encouraging sustainable use of sea turtles by communities around the world. The campaign utilizes media pathways to promote selected “partner” sea turtle ecotourism ventures and also provides small grants to these enterprises for operational support. The SEE Turtles project has a list of site selection criteria but lacks a more structured framework for assessing future SEE Turtles candidate sites. The goal of this master’s project was to develop a comprehensive site selection process using ecotourism and community development literature. This framework may be used to identify potential SEE Turtles sites that will have the largest positive impacts on sea turtle conservation and local communities.