Urban recreational fisheries in the Australian coastal zone:The sustainability challenge

Recreational fishing is an important wildlife harvesting activity in urban coastal areas, and recreational harvest in these areas can frequently exceed the commercial harvest. Recreational fishing is a key way that many members of the public experience the environment. The activity enhances social capital, promotes respect for nature, provides health benefits and can provide economic benefits to coastal communities. It is also an important driver of the science on aquatic animals and habitats, and an important tangible reason for many members of the public to conserve and protect aquatic resources. Overall, there has been little specific consideration of urban recreational fisheries management in Australia, despite the paramount importance of urban areas as a focus of recreational fishing activity. This paper identifies that in order to maximize individual and societal benefits from recreational fishing, there needs to be a refocussing of management with the aim of being more holistic. Historically, fisheries management in Australia has focused on maximum sustainable yield (MSY) or maximum economic yield (MEY) which is relevant for the commercial fishing sector, but neither of these is directly relevant to recreational fisheries. This paper identifies that Urban Fisheries Management Plans are required that recognize the specific issues associated with urban recreational fisheries. These plans need to coordinate within and between levels of government and have clear management objectives relevant to urban recreational fisheries. Enhanced opportunities for meaningful citizen science can be incorporated at multiple levels within these plans and this can engender public support for environmental stewardship, as well as fill a very important gap in the knowledge base necessary for managing the activity. As urban recreational fisheries are often occurring in highly modified or degraded habitats, a central element of these plans needs to be habitat restoration and this can have broader benefits for aquatic health. Other management tools include habitat creation (e.g., artificial reefs), optimization of coastal infrastructure as fisheries habitat, and stock enhancement. Overall, Urban Fisheries Management Plans represent a necessary evolution of fisheries management to better address the specific challenges of urban recreational fisheries management, and to best ensure that benefits are optimised

ON ESTIMATING HOUSEHOLD DEMAND FOR OUTDOOR RECREATION FROM PROPERTY VALUES: AN EXPLORATION

This paper explores how hedonic price analysis might be used to estimate the surplus benefits of local outdoor recreation when distance to the recreational site is captured in property values. The model is characterized by the endogenous choice of distance to a local recreational area by households in coastal property markets and by the capitalization of proximity in property values. Equilibrium occurs when the reduction in the cost of a property due to a marginal increase in distance to the recreational area equals the associated loss in recreational surplus resulting from increased travel costs. The theoretical model is applied in an exploratory analysis of the "demand" for distance to the nearest public beach from which total surplus benefits are estimated.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Private Options to Use Public Goods Exploiting Revealed Preferences to Estimate Environmental Benefits

We develop and apply a new method for estimating the economic benefits of an environmental amenity. The method fits within the household production framework (Becker 1965), and is based upon the notion of estimating the derived demand for a privately traded option to utilize a freely-available public good. In particular, the demand for state fishing licenses is used to infer the benefits of recreational fishing. Using panel data on state fishing license sales and prices for the continental United States over a fifteen-year period, combined with data on substitute prices and demographic variables, a license demand function is estimated with instrumental variable procedures to allow for the potential endogeneity of administered prices. The econometric results lead to estimates of the benefits of a fishing license, and subsequently to the expected benefits of a recreational fishing day. In contrast with previous studies, which have utilized travel cost or hypothetical market methods, our approach provides estimates that are directly comparable across geographic areas. Further, our results suggest that the benefits of recreational fishing days are generally less than previously estimated.Private Options, Public Goods, Environmental Benefits

Private Options to Use Public Goods: Exploiting Revealed Preferences to Estimate Environmental Benefits

We develop and apply a new method for estimating the economic benefits of an environmental amenity. The method fits within the household production framework (Becker 1965), and is based upon the notion of estimating the derived demand for a privately traded option to utilize a freely-available public good. In particular, the demand for state fishing licenses is used to infer the benefits of recreational fishing. Using panel data on state fishing license sales and prices for the continental United States over a fifteen-year period, combined with data on substitute prices and demographic variables, a license demand function is estimated with instrumental variable procedures to allow for the potential endogeneity of administered prices. The econometric results lead to estimates of the benefits of a fishing license, and subsequently to the expected benefits of a recreational fishing day. In contrast with previous studies, which have utilized travel cost or hypothetical market methods, our approach provides estimates that are directly comparable across geographic areas. Further, our results suggest that the benefits of recreational fishing days are generally less than previously estimated.

The Benefits and Costs of Fish Consumption Advisories for Mercury

Mercury contamination of the Chesapeake Bay is a concern to health authorities in the region. We evaluate the economic and health effects of postulated recreational and commercial fishing advisories for striped bass on the Maryland portion of the bay. Awareness of and response to the advisory is estimated using a meta-analysis of the literature. Three values are estimated: welfare losses to recreational anglers, welfare losses in the commercial striped bass fishery, and health benefits. An estimate of percentage of consumer surplus loss is applied to the value of all fishing days in the bay to estimate recreational welfare loss. Welfare losses to the commercial fishery are estimated based on a model of supply and demand. Health benefits are estimated using estimated exposure and epidemiological relationships, and while potentially large, are highly uncertain. Results also suggest most individuals are below advisory standards ex ante, such that advisories should target high-frequency consumers.fisheries, mercury, advisories, recreation, health benefits

A Method for Establishing Outdoor Recreation Project Priorities in Alaska

The authors thank Theodore Smith, Edward Kramer and Nat Goodhue of the Division of Parks for information and comments supplied during this study, and Frank Orth, Charles Marsh, Ed Kramer, C.E. Logsdon, and Frank Wooding for reviewing the manuscript. Thanks is also due the Department of Business Administration, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Dale Swanson, Head, for their cooperation in this research project.The objectives of this study are to define outdoor recreation benefits to the public and to develop a priority ranking method for proposed outdoor recreation projects. A careful analysis of the benefits which people derive from outdoor recreation provides a frame of reference for evaluating a recreational facility. A project should supply those benefits which are most highly demanded by the public. Fifteen benefits of recreation are defined and discussed. They are divided into two major categories; those which accrue to recreational participants and those which accrue to non-participants.This research was supported by a grant from the Division of Parks, State of Alaska

Identifying the health and well-being benefits of recreational fishing.

In summary, this study found that considerable health and well-being benefits can be gained through involvement in recreational fishing. Encouraging young children, youth, adults and families to fish offers a cost effective and healthful outdoor recreational activity that can be enjoyed throughout life. Benefits were evident for individuals and groups. Recreational fishing was also noted to provide significant benefits to children and youth with behavioural and mental health issues. Finally, educational strategies that focus on how to minimise the environmental impacts of recreational fishing can ensure today’s and tomorrow’s recreational fishers are aware of sustainable fishing practices

The Benefits of Air Pollutant Emissions Reductions in Maryland: Results from the Maryland Externalities Screening and Valuation Model

This paper reports the results of policy simulations of environmental and human health externalities arising from the production of electricity. The primary purpose of this paper is to illustrate the Maryland Externalities Screening and Valuation Model, developed for the State of Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. A secondary purpose is to estimate likely Maryland benefits from Title IV emissions reductions at electric power generation facilities. Sources and scope of benefits, and the potential of policy to achieve specific environmental and human health goals, are suggested by the results. The authors find that expected health benefits from reductions in power plant emissions dominate the estimated benefits of improved recreational visibility and residential visibility. The latter are the only environmental benefits the model is currently equipped to estimate, because of gaps in the science-to-economics literature. The model fully accounts for all significant environmental pathways, so future parameter estimates can be inserted as they are developed. The authors estimate that in 2010 Maryland health benefits will be about $0.7 billion, while recreational visibility benefits (in Shenandoah National Park) will be approximately$21 million (to residents of Virginia and Maryland), and residential visibility benefits, for inhabitants of a city of the size of Washington, DC and similarly affected by reduced urban visibility, will be about $1.2 million. This integrated-assessment model is designed to estimate and report also the tremendous uncertainties in measuring and valuing these effects.

Tennessee Valley Authority\u27s use of recreational benefits in resource allocation for multiple-purpose water resource projects

This research studied how the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has used recreational benefits in resource allocation for multiple-purpose water resource projects. Procedures used in answering this question were: (1) a literature review consisting of (a) pertinent information involving methods for the estimation of recreational benefits, (b) tracing of the Federal Government\u27s steps in the legitimization of recreational benefits as a major project purpose, and (c) independent research; (2) a presentation of key facts found in the benefit-cost studies made by TVA and other Federal agencies which have used recreational benefits; (3) analysis of TVA\u27s and other Federal agencies\u27 use of set guidelines; (4) a comparison of demand and value measurements calculated by TVA and other Federal agencies. Results of the study indicated that TVA has used their own methods in determining the demand and value measurements for recreational benefits. A comparison of demand and value measurements could not be made between TVA and other Federal agencies reservoir projects because no criteria of this kind could be obtained

Managing Fish and Fishing in America's Oceans

Ocean fish have served as a valuable source of nourishment, employment and recreation in the United States for centuries. The U.S. commercial seafood industry supports an estimated 1.5 million jobs, and the recreational fishing industry, with approximately 12 million anglers, supports more than 384,000 jobs.1 Healthy fish populations sustain these economic benefits and vibrant marine ecosystems