The Futurist Interviews Ecologist James Spotila

Wildlife poaching on some of the world’s beaches is declining thanks to economic growth and robust conservation efforts, says James Spotila, Drexel University biologist, ecologist, and the author of Saving Sea Turtles: Extraordinary Stories from the Battle Against Extinction (Johns Hopkins University, 2010). But Spotila warns that ocean-going species throughout the world face other dangers: fishing, coastal manufacturing, excess tourist activity, and climate change.

Regulated fishing, sustainable development, and “eco-tourism,” which balances humans’ beach activity with plant and animal welfare, will be critical to ensuring marine wildlife’s long-term survival, he concludes. Spotila shared his insights on marine conservation in this interview with Rick Docksai, a staff editor for THE FUTURIST.

Rick Docksai: In Latin America, you and other turtle conservationists met frequent challenges from poachers. How would you describe societal attitudes toward poaching? To what extent have they been changing in recent years?

James Spotila: I think society is kind of split. On one beach where we converted poachers into (tour) guides, it worked really well. On other beaches, poaching is still pretty widespread.

There is a legalized taking of eggs at Ostional (a beach in Costa Rica), and people think ‘If I can take eggs legally here, I can take more from other places.’ We have guides poaching on other beaches. In other beaches in Mexico, however, they want to protect the turtles and their eggs, especially where there are tourists involved.

Docksai: So increased tourism actually motivates conservation?

Spotila: Absolutely. Responsible ecotourism is a real positive for these areas because it creates a new income stream for people other than poaching. And it raises the education levels in the areas, because to be a better guide you have to be better educated.

It is definitely less socially acceptable to take eggs than it was 30 years ago. There is a generational change, too. The younger student generation in Costa Rica is much more attuned to protecting turtles and their eggs.

Docksai: Latin America has seen an enviable amount of economic growth in the last 20 years. What impetus, if any, does the economic growth give to conservation efforts?

Spotila: Increased economic growth has been positive for conservation. As people become wealthier and have more leisure time, they have more education and are more concerned about conservation. In Costa Rica, they’ve always had a positive attitude about the environment, but there it's always been a struggle to obtain enough funds to maintain all the parks and other areas. But economic growth has been a positive.

Docksai: You wrote in your book that Mexico is pursuing policies of “regulated tourism” that seek to moderate human use of beaches. How attainable is this as a policy goal?

Spotila: It’s absolutely attainable. People swim on the beach in the daytime, and at night they leave the turtles alone to do their egg laying. That’s going on in a lot of places.

Docksai: As your book notes, sea-level rise brought on by climate change threatens to swamp many beaches. How much concern are citizens in the countries you’ve visited expressing? How concerned are local businesses and developers?

Spotila: I think that in many cases, people who build on beaches don’t care about climate change any more than they care about turtles. If I’m a developer, my incentive is to build it, run it for a few years, and then sell it. If the ocean level is going to be higher in five years, it won’t affect me, because I’ll be out of there. But people and businesses that have to live and work there on the beaches are starting to get concerned.