Social, ecological and governance perspectives of small-scale fisheries wellbeing in marine protected areas of Malaysia

The government of Malaysia has established several marine protected areas (MPAs) in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia since 1980s to protect overexploited fisheries resources and coral reefs habitat. Tourism industry generates substantial revenue from the islands in Malaysia. The “no take” MPAs are restricted for fishing activities. The main challenge is to how overexploited marine resources can be protected and restored for sustainable use. Several studies demonstrate that coral reefs and fisheries in MPA suffer from natural and anthropogenic disturbances mainly caused by increased tourism activities. This study examines how social and ecological factors are influenced by governance of MPA. The data for this study was obtained from face-to-face interviews with local people from two islands using a structured questionnaire. The results show that the governance factors contributed significantly to the ecological conditions of MPAs, indicating that governance factors play very important roles for enhancing coral health and fisheries resources. Local stakeholders' participation and cooperation could effectively protect the coral reef habitat for sustaining livelihoods of local people in the islands in Malaysia.