Myth 14: Marine Conservation Agreements depend on tourism revenues to meet their financial needs.
Fact 14: Tourism revenues are one potential source of financing for Marine Conservation Agreements, but most existing projects depend on other sources of funding.
Marine Conservation Agreement (MCA) projects can meet their up front and long-term financial needs through many sources, only one of which is tourism. It is true that one of the most visible, long-standing MCA projects (the Chumbe Island Coral Park) and an up and coming MCA project (the Misool Ecoresort) rely primarily on tourism revenues to meet their management costs. MCA projects like these, however, are not the norm because so few projects present the necessary elements for successful ecotourism operations. The majority of known MCA Field Projects receive financing from public and private grants, private donations, commercial interests and payments from industry to meet regulatory requirements (i.e., wetland mitigation). Additional information can be found in Funding.