CHAPTER I Introduction and Research Methodology 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Sand Bar and Stingray City are one of the Cayman Islands major tourist attractions, and feature extensively in the Islands marketing. Located in the shallow waters of North Sound in Grand Cayman, the two sites offer shallow water snorkelling and diving amongst stingrays. One of the features of trips to swim with the stingrays is the opportunity to touch and feed these animals, which now congregate at both sites: generally at least 50 stingrays can be seen at the Sand Bar, and 30 at Stingray City. It is estimated that in recent years around 900,000 vi sits a year – over 780,000 of these by cruise passengers – are made to the Sand Bar and Stingray City, with nearly half of all visitors to the Cayman Islands taking a trip. The Sand Bar is only 60 cm deep in some places shallow enough for snorkellers to be able to touch stingrays resting on them bottom. Stingray City is deeper between 3 to 5 metres and visited by recreational scuba divers. 1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY [1]
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CHAPTER I
Introduction and Research Methodology
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The Sand Bar and Stingray City are one of the Cayman Islands major tourist attractions, and
feature extensively in the Islands marketing. Located in the shallow waters of North Sound in
Grand Cayman, the two sites offer shallow water snorkelling and diving amongst stingrays.
One of the features of trips to swim with the stingrays is the opportunity to touch and feed these
animals, which now congregate at both sites: generally at least 50 stingrays can be seen at the
Sand Bar, and 30 at Stingray City.
It is estimated that in recent years around 900,000 vi sits a year – over 780,000 of these by cruise
passengers – are made to the Sand Bar and Stingray City, with nearly half of all visitors to the
Cayman Islands taking a trip. The Sand Bar is only 60 cm deep in some places shallow enough
for snorkellers to be able to touch stingrays resting on them bottom. Stingray City is deeper
between 3 to 5 metres and visited by recreational scuba divers.
1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The research project has been carried out with the following objectives:
The basic objective behind carrying out this research project is to assess the negative
impacts of tourisms on marine ecosystem.
Also to explore possible measures that could be taken to protect the marine ecology.
[1]
1.3 SCOPE:
The scope of the present research is limited to the ‘impact of coastal tourism on stingrays at the
Stingray city’ only as the topic suggested. In this research project the researcher attempts to
analyze the effect of tourism on marine species. Looking at the vastness of the project the
researcher has confined the scope of the study to analyze the topic. The researcher has tried to
cover the aspects connected with the said topic and analyze them in an elaborative manner with
the help of relevant case laws.
1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The quality and value of research depends upon the proper and particular methodology adopted
for the completion of research work. Looking at the vastness of the research topic – doctrinal
Legal research methodology has been adopted. The researcher adopt both the primary and
secondary sources.
1.5 RESEARCH PROBLEM:
Whether behavioral modifications in the stingrays can be protected.
The researcher has taken up the following problem because it is very important to know whether
the changes observed in the stingrays could be stopped before these changes increase so much
that it becomes impossible to prevent the species of stingrays.
Whether the measures taken by the Department of Environment to protect stingrays are
complied with.
Researcher came up with the above stated problem so as to find out that set of rules
framed by the Department of Environment are followed, and if not followed then the
extinction of the stingrays is nearby.
[2]
1.6 HYPOTHESIS:
In order to conduct a research work, some important hypotheses are to be formulated. The focal
points and assumptions are normally available through the formulation of hypothesis. The major
hypotheses developed on the basis of study are as follows:
The stingrays which are fed by the tourists are unhealthy as compared to those who are
not fed by the tourists.
Preventing the tourists from feeding the stingrays would lead to the loss of tourism at the
stingray city.
[3]
CHAPTER II
Concept of Marine Ecology
2.1 MEANING
Marine Ecology is the scientific study of marine-life habitat, populations, and
interactions among organisms and the surrounding environment including their abiotic
(non-living physical and chemical factors that affect the ability of organisms to survive
and reproduce) and biotic factors (living things or the materials that directly or indirectly
affect an organism in its environment).
Marine ecology is a subset of the study of marine biology and includes observations at
the biochemical, cellular, individual, and community levels as well as the study of
marine ecosystems and the biosphere.
The study of marine ecology also includes the influence of geology, geography,
meteorology, pedology, chemistry, and physics on marine environments. The impact of
human activity such as medical research, development, agriculture, fisheries, and
forestry is also studied under marine ecology. In some ways, marine ecology is more
complex than the relatively straightforward study of a particular organism or
environment because of the numerous interconnections, symbiotic relationships, and
influence of many factors on a particular environment.1
1 http://marinebio.org/oceans/marine-ecology.asp, visited on 2nd Feb, 2012
The stingray is a flat marine fish found in warmer waters around the globe. The stingray is
belongs to the same group of fish as other ray and are also believed to be closely related to
sharks.
The stingray inhabits the warmer tropical waters around the world generally in the slightly
deeper waters rather than the shallows. When the weather begins to cool, the stingray will retreat
further into the depths of the ocean.
2.2 INTERACTION WITH STINGRAY AT STINGRAY CITY
Interacting with stingrays at Stingray City, appears to be substantially growing in popularity.
Promotion of the rays is increasing through websites and brochures and larger tourism
productions. Yet there is still very little known about the impacts on rays (both behavioural and
physical), risks to humans, or indeed the issues that provisioning stingrays can present. An
impact study conducted on stingray provisioning in the Cayman Islands, provisioning activities
at Hamelin Bay, and other areas in the southwest are unique because they are shore-based.
Collected data shows that rays are attracted to the site principally by food provisioning and
secondarily by boats due to learned association with food. They are most common at the
provisioning site in the middle of the day, as are peak visitor numbers.
Behavioural impacts on rays were found to be attraction to humans, resulting in aggression and
hierarchy towards one another. Attraction to humans at the provisioning site reflected that the
rays may be partially habituated. However, rays were also seen foraging naturally for food,
indicating that they are not yet dependent on humans. Other potential impacts to rays include
boat damage from pleasure craft, overfeeding, being fed the wrong food, damage from fishing
hooks and risk of disease from foul water.2
2 David Newsome, ‘Impacts and risks associated with developing, but unsupervised, stingray tourism’, International Journal of Tourism, Volume 6, Issue 5, September 2004, pp 305-398
Recreational diving and snorkelling are increasingly popular leisure activities, with potentially
adverse consequences for coral reefs and other types of marine life. It is estimated that the
stingrays now receive 80,000 to 100,000 visitors per year, and on a busy day more than 500
divers and snorkellers can be observed in the water stroking and feeding the rays. The stingray
population is beginning to show major behavioural changes such as the development of shoaling
behaviour, skin abrasion from handling, and altered feeding habits. It is also possible that some
behavioural modifications are being learnt and transmitted to new generations of rays. Concern is
expressed about the effect of consistently high levels of visitation upon the stingray population,
and it is suggested that there is an urgent need for long term monitoring with possible restriction
of visitor numbers.5
2.3.1 INCREASED LEVEL OF OVERCROWDING
Since 1930s, stingrays have been present at the Stingray City. They were attracted by fishermen
cleaning their catch. Diving became popular at Stingray City and trips started to hand feed the
rays in 1986. Today most leisure tourism for this area is motivated by diving or fishing. And the
dive, with 50 stingrays at least, has become one of the best in the world as the fish are harmless
and not aggressive to people.
Actually their only natural predators are humans and sharks. There are no official numbers for
Stingray City available, but the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and their Protection and
Conservation Unit estimates between 80,000 to 100,000 visitors per year. In high season more
than 500 divers and snorkelers each day can be found in the water feeding and stroking the rays.
There is concern expressed about the effect of consistently high levels of visitation upon the
rays’ population, because such visitor numbers seems likely to start or accelerate existing
changes in the behavior of the stingray. Also other visitor-related problems as overcrowding, like
the provision of poor and inaccurate information and minimal safety precautions will be become
a problem. Unfortunately is Stingray City, by far the most frequently visited marine tourism
attraction in the Caymans, outside the network of protected areas off the coasts. 5 Myra Shackley, ‘Stingray City- Managing the Impact of Underwater Tourism in the Cayman Islands’ , Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Volume 6, Issue 4, 1998