Monitoring MPA visitor uses handbook

charters for a professional, recreational or touristactivity,››Surveys by mail, email or the internet.3. Methods aiming to determine visitorcharacteristics in marine, coastaland island areasWhile the quantitative aspect is vital, it would be pointlesswithout conducting interviews and surveys to determinethe characteristics of visitors, uses and practices.The questions asked and the themes addressed aim todiscover the various user groups, their perception of thesite, their expectations and their suggestions. Based onsurveys, these methods come within the sphere of sociologyand anthropology. Surveys must be developed,conducted and analysed according to strict scientificprinciples, and many operations carried out in protectedcoastal sites by non-specialised organisations involvesignificant sampling and interpretation bias.There are two major categories of survey methods,depending on the scale selected :• Small-scale surveys, used to address the question ofvisitor use with the population of a country, a region ora county.››Tourist surveys,››Surveys by mail, email or the internet.• Full-scale surveys, used to address visitor use locallywith a population of users of a protected area or a site.››Interviews (non-directive, semi directive, directive),››Standardised questionnaires (with closed-endedand/or open-ended questions).• Itinerary reconstruction (based on surveys),• Use of mobile telephone data,• Use of video,• Processing of AIS (Automatic Identification System)data,• Processing of data from black boxes on board ships,• Processing of I-Tracker data.Appendix 2 details the technical implementation oftwo quantitative data acquisition methods: automaticcounter installation on land and overflight ofmarine areas with photographs.4. Methods aiming to determine userbehaviour on sitesThe behavioural approach to uses is mainly based onparticipant or other observations, generally involvingresearcher immersion in the survey site. The diversity ofusers and their practices are extensively taken into account,thus providing keys to understanding visitor usephenomena that are vital to characterise visitor systemsin detail. The behavioural approach is equally interestingin work done on protected site governance.Ten methods relate to this behavioural approach :• Ethnographic-type observations of the various groupsof users, field books,• Maps from the ground,• GPS monitoring, TABLE OF CONTENTS 48 COLLECTION VISITOR USE OBSERVATION AND MONITORING IN MEDITERRANEAN MARINE PROTECTED AREAS