Angler Heterogeneity and the Species-Specific Demand for Marine Recreational Fishing

In this study we assess the viability of single-species recreation demand models given commonly available data sets. Using the 2000 MRFSS southeast intercept data combined with the economic add-on, we determine that the MRFSS data will support only a few species-specific recreation demand models. Considering species of management interest in the southeast, we focus on dolphin, king mackerel, red snapper and red drum. We examine single-species recreational fishing behavior using random utility models of demand. We explore mixed logit (i.e., random parameter) logit and finite mixture (i.e., latent class logit) models for dealing with angler heterogeneity. We compare these to the commonly used conditional and nested logit models in terms of the value of catching (and keeping) one additional fish. Mixed logit models illustrate that the value of catch can be highly heterogeneous and, in some cases, can include both positive and negative values. The finite mixture model generates value estimates that were some times strikingly different than conditional, nested and mixed logit models. Preference heterogeneity is significant within the MRFSS data. We find evidence that single-species models outperform multiple species models and recreational values differ. Key Words: marine recreational fishing, single-species demand, preference heterogeneity models

First in Class? The Performance of Latent Class Model

Replaced with revised version of poster 07/22/11.Monte Carlo Simulations, Latent Class Model, Environmental Economics and Policy,

America's North Coast: A Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Program to Protect and Restore the Great Lakes

Examines the baseline ecological conditions of the Great Lakes and offers a plan for the area's environmental protection and restoration. Demonstrates how a restoration program can provide economic benefits that substantially exceed its costs

Pike (Esox lucius) stock management in designated brown trout (Salmo trutta) fisheries: Anglers’ preferences. ESRI WP563, May 2017

This paper examines anglers' preferences for active stock management of pike populations within designated wild brown trout fisheries in Ireland. While the policy of pike control has a long history, it is not without controversy and conflict. As the objective of pike control is the protection of trout stocks, a superficial view might be that trout anglers favour and pike anglers oppose such management intervention. Pike and trout anglers do not have homogeneous preferences; in fact, a substantial minority of pike anglers also fish for trout and vice versa. The current paper is the first to examine Irish pike and trout anglers' preferences over fishery attributes, including pike stock control methods. Preference data was elicited by means of choice experiments for pike and trout anglers and a latent class site choice model is used to estimate anglers' utility functions. Not surprisingly model results show that pike anglers do not support pike stock control and almost universally would choose fishing sites where there are no pike stock controls, all else equal. We find that the majority of trout anglers, 61%, are negatively disposed towards pike stock control, and all else equal, are more likely to choose fishing sites where pike stocks are not actively managed. A substantial minority of trout anglers (i.e. 39%) could be considered advocates of pike control, with about one-third of these being more extreme in their preferences, with site choice probabilities of such anglers being largely determined by the pike control management option

2017 Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting

Program for the 2017 Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting held in Port Aransas, Texas, April 12-13, 2017.Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Coastal Bend Bays Foundation, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Sea Grant Texas at Texas A&M University, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, and Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve.Marine Scienc

Smartphone picture organization: a hierarchical approach

We live in a society where the large majority of the population has a camera-equipped smartphone. In addition, hard drives and cloud storage are getting cheaper and cheaper, leading to a tremendous growth in stored personal photos. Unlike photo collections captured by a digital camera, which typically are pre-processed by the user who organizes them into event-related folders, smartphone pictures are automatically stored in the cloud. As a consequence, photo collections captured by a smartphone are highly unstructured and because smartphones are ubiquitous, they present a larger variability compared to pictures captured by a digital camera. To solve the need of organizing large smartphone photo collections automatically, we propose here a new methodology for hierarchical photo organization into topics and topic-related categories. Our approach successfully estimates latent topics in the pictures by applying probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis, and automatically assigns a name to each topic by relying on a lexical database. Topic-related categories are then estimated by using a set of topic-specific Convolutional Neuronal Networks. To validate our approach, we ensemble and make public a large dataset of more than 8,000 smartphone pictures from 40 persons. Experimental results demonstrate major user satisfaction with respect to state of the art solutions in terms of organization.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Fisheries management for different angler types. ESRI WP529. March 2016

On-site survey data from coarse and game angling sites in Ireland is used to estimate count data models of recreational angling demand. To investigate the existence of preference heterogeneity across angler-types, three demand functions are estimated according to angler type; coarse, game and a combination of both. Comparison of these demand functions indicates that the fishery characteristics which drive demand differ depending on angler-specific characteristics. For example treating all anglers as an homogeneous group led to results suggesting angling demand is higher where there is a greater provision of angling services (such as guide-hire and tackle shops). While this relationship pertained for the game angling demand function, angling service levels had no effect on coarse angling demand. Water quality, which was not found to be significant in driving demand in the combined case, was identified as a significant determinant of angling demand in game fisheries. Overall the results strongly support the need to specifically address angler characteristics when analysing angler preferences. Improved survey design that attains more detailed information such as anglers' quarry-type, skill level, etc. will improve the ability of analysts to understand angler preferences and provide more effective policy recommendations

Recreational angling demand in a mixed resource fishery. ESRI WP622, June 2019

Several large Irish lake fisheries comprise both pike (Esox Lucius) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). Due to predation on trout, pike stocks are actively managed in several locations with the objective of enhancing the trout fishery, which is a policy strongly supported by some trout anglers but intensely opposed by pike anglers. In the context of scientific support for management decisions concerning these mixed resource fisheries there is a dearth of economics knowledge. This paper addresses some of that knowledge gap, investigating factors affecting angling recreational demand within these mixed resource fisheries and whether there are significant differences between pike and brown trout anglers. We estimate a travel cost model and test whether pike and trout anglers have different demand preferences. The most substantive policy-relevant finding from the research relates not to differences associated with target species but to angling club membership. Angling club members are more price inelastic in their demand and particularly so in the case of trout anglers