Ecotourism, Animals and Ecocentrism: A Re-examination of the Billfish Debate

The aim of this paper is to discuss the topic of who, or what, is deserving of moral consideration in nature as this applies to the emerging discourse on tourism, animals and ethics. The paper focuses primarily on deep green or ecocentric ethics, and more specifically, on how this perspective differs from other theories of environmental ethics—especially animal liberation—when it comes to the treatment of animals used for tourism. The debate on billfishing as ecotourism is resurrected for the purpose of explaining (i) why it is important to understand key differences between ecocentric and animal liberation ethics; and (ii) how both theories could have been used to better inform the billfishing debate that took place over a decade ago. The paper concludes with a call for the continued use of environmental ethics theory in clarifying whether certain human- animal practices should be viewed as ecotourism or not.