Economic Value of Coral Reef

Trao Reef Locally Managed Marine Reserve was established in 2001 to protect coral reef being under threat because of human activities. However, the economic value of coral reef represents an important sight to help local people and resource managers in using and managing the resource effectively in the marine reserve has not been seen. By using financial analysis to calculate producer surplus of resource users, this study evaluated the direct use value consisting of fishery and aquaculture values of coral reef in the marine reserve. The findings show that the direct use value of coral reef is US$207,819 in which aquaculture is an important contribution. This study also investigated the evaluation of effectiveness of the marine reserve management under the context of community based management approach by contrasting with Nha Trang Bay MPA management which follows top-down management approach. The results show that community in Trao Reef marine has higher awareness, higher compliance, and higher participation to the marine reserve management. These indicators imply that Trao Reef management is performing better than Nha Trang Bay MPA management.