History of the Step Zero of Two Marine Reserves of Fishing Interest in the Island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract

The variety of purposes pursued by the Marine Protected Areas refers to the need toanalyze the interests that justify them and the means used to achieve them, in orderto establish their real utility. The first proposals for marine reserves in Tenerife beganin 1980 and they have not been yet developed and are still on paper. By analyzing documentarysources, interviews and participant observations, it was recovered the historicalprocess of these projects with the aim of detecting interactions and initiatives that contributedto the change in images, goals and interests of the respondents. One of the keyfactors that contributed to extend the Marine Protected Areas implementation was theconflicts of interest that emerged between those affected by them.