Political ecology of the flats fishing industry in the Bahamas

Introduction Political ecology in tourism inherently deals with stakeholder power imbalances and tensions arising from inequitable allocation of resources resulting from tourism related drivers (Stonich, 1998). Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, accounting for nearly 30% of global trade (World Tourism Organization, 2006), and growth is expected to reach 1.8 billion international arrivals by 2030, nearly a doubling of the current (1 billion) annual arrivals (Scott, Gössling & Hall, 2012). Particularly dependent on tourism, the Caribbean is often cited as “the most tourist-dependent area in the world” (Patterson & Rodriguez, 2003, p. 77).