Entanglements of Urgency in Whale Shark Tourism on Mafia Island.

Abstract (English)

This paper will engage with entanglements between whale shark tourism and marine park conservation strategies on an island in Tanzania, and how these entanglements contribute to academic conversations on climate urgency. The destructive fishing practice of bombing in the waters of Mafia Island (Tanzania) led to the implementation of the Mafia Island Marine Park in 1995 by the WWF and the government of Tanzania. 30 years later, the Marine Park has successfully protected specific areas of oceanic ecology, and generated income, though this income does not reach the communities in Mafia in the way it was originally expected to. Now, there is a bourgeoning tourist economy centred around swimming with whale sharks in the waters outside of the demarcated marine park. This venture is promising similar benefits of the Marine Park without international NGO or federal government involvement. Whale shark tourism was started by fisherman in Mafia Island as an alternative way to generate income, given that fishing has become less economically and ecologically viable due to climate change effects and over-fishing. As global tourists have become more aware of the effects of tourism, this leads them to visiting “smaller” or less obvious tourist destinations presented as being more sustainable (such as Mafia Island). Residents of Mafia Island are now viewing eco-tourism as a response to an international agenda around climate change, while being responsive to local economic needs and tourist desires. Current academic discourses around climate urgency suggest that imperatives towards universalised environmental ideals can be harmful extensions of imperialism and authoritarianism, or prescriptive development. In Mafia, there is an understanding of the milieu of climate urgency politics and policies, and a move towards utilising this to help to increase visitors and investment on the island. While Mafia residents are noticing the effects of climate change on weather patterns and fish stocks, they also understand the potential financial benefit of fitting Mafia as an eco-tourism site, into a global conversation on conservation, sustainability and climate change mitigation. This paper will look at converging points of urgency. Urgency felt by Mafia residents may not be the same as that felt by tourists and the cultural context they belong to. This can be seen in the practices and discourses surrounding whale shark tourism in Mafia Island. Ethnographic attention to the ways that urgency is communicated in spaces of conservation and eco-tourism and how these may vary across cultures and demographics, can point us to a critical understanding of how climate change urgency manifests itself.