Food supply
The demands of non-traditional societies, especially tourists have greatly affected fisheries ? in particular reef fisheries- in many areas. These new markets have developed relatively quickly in most island countries and are typically highly focused towards single species often targeting high-value species and aquaculture of luxury organisms such as pearls and freshwater crayfish for the tourist trade. Tourism has also increased the demand for seafood in order to supply restaurant, increasing pressure on the lobster and conch populations in the Caribbean for example and in some cases causing stocks to decline (e.g. coconut crab in Vanuatu). If managed sustainably, such fisheries could increase income-generation and inter-island trade. Co-ordination of traditional fisheries, marine reserves and tourism (including sport fishing and diving) is necessary to avoid allocation problems and conflicts among various users of coastal areas.
Picture courtesy of NOAA.
In 1992, the joint Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/FAO Agriculture Division commissioned a series of case studies on the links between agriculture and the tourist sectors in selected member states of the Caribbean Community. These studies suggest that agricultural production has, so far, not been geared to take advantage of the possibilities (nationally or regionally) offered by the tourist demand.
On the positive side, tourism can provide a stimulus for agricultural production and marketing, especially in the fruit and vegetables sectors. Despite the demand created for locally produced food, there are still considerable imports of food for the tourist sector (the share of local producers in hotel food supply ranges from as little as 5 percent in Montserrat to 50 percent in Dominica). Growth of tourism has generally deprived the agricultural sector of key resources such as labour and capital because of the low rates of return on capital employed in agriculture - due to low prices and low productivity. If domestic production fails to respond to a projected increase in food demand, even higher levels of food imports could accompany the tourist industry - with negative macro-economic effects.