The Value of the Trout Fishery at Rhodes, North Eastern Cape, South Africa, A Travel Cost Analysis Using Count Data Models

The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, no.10 of 2004) makes provision for the presence of alien trout in South African waters by means of a zoning system, partly in recognition of the significant income generating potential of trout fishing in South Africa. This paper reports the first formal recreational valuation of a trout fishery in South Africa, the one in and around Rhodes village, North Eastern Cape. The valuation is carried out by applying the individual travel cost method using several count data models. The zero truncated negative binomial model yielded the most appealing results. It accounts for the non-negative integer nature of the trip data, for truncation and over-dispersion. The paper finds that in 2007 consumer surplus per day visit to the Rhodes trout fishery was R2 668, consumer surplus per trip visit was R13 072, and the total consumer surplus generated was R18 026 288.

Opioid use in palliative care

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The Third Party Non-Signatory\u27s Ability to Compel International Commercial Arbitration: Doing Justice without Destroying Consent

This article analyzes the legal theories and other mechanisms employed in international commercial arbitration to achieve a workable compromise among the above-cited propositions. In so doing it touches on larger, more complex questions like the position of third parties in contract law, the jurisdictional foundations of arbitration, and the role of choice-of-law issues in determining the validity of the arbitration agreement. However important these broader concerns may be, they should not undermine the importance of the issue in its own right

Measuring the indirect costs associated with the establishment of a wind farm: An application of the Contingent Valuation Method

Although a green energy source, the location of electrical generating windmills may cause a disamenity effect (negative externality). The establishment of a wind farm is known as a locally undesirable land use (LULU) and leads to the not-in-my-backyard syndrome (NIMBY). In an application of the contingent valuation method, a willingness-to-accept framework was used to estimate the aggregate annual compensation required to allow the construction of a wind farm near Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. This compensation amounted to R490 695. A binary choice logit analysis found that retirement status, concern about climate change, concern about view-shed impacts and the offer amount are important predictors of voting for or against the project.Contingent Valuation Method, indirect cost, wind farm

Building the BRIDGE: closing the gap on digital exclusion

Access to products, services and government is increasingly reliant on people being able to use information and communications technologies: from computers to mobile phones. Whilst there are many obvious benefits to those already familiar with the technology, those that do not have the skills or inclination to interact through such technology can get excluded and this may eventually lead to a permanent disadvantage. These groups within society can be very large according to the UK government, with 70% of over 65s reported as never having used the Internet (www.statistics.gov.uk, 2008). As companies grow in scale and design products and services for global rather than local markets it becomes harder to track these partially excluded groups. This is reported as a growing 'psychic distance' between the designers of technologies and the prospective users of those technologies, with a risk that those excluded from the market today will become effectively invisible to designers of future products. Such users' requirements of technology no longer inform the design process and create a digital divide that is socially constructed rather than economically constrained. This is neither good for society nor business, where such exclusion may alienate, as well as prevent business from identifying and engaging with latent demand for their products and services. This project aims to build a 'Bridge' from the needs of technologically excluded users to the capabilities of suppliers of products and services. This will be achieved through exploration of users' expectations, desires and needs and by building design guidelines to help address them. The project will extrapolate the results of this work to wider markets. In order to realise these goals, a combination is needed of qualitative research methods to deliver a detailed picture of user needs, and quantitative methods to map that to the data that large global corporations would typically hold about their current customers and markets. User needs identified through qualitative methods need to be related to behavioural characteristics observed through data analysis and modelling of demand within global markets. This element of the project builds on direct engagement with industry, both with designers, and their existing customers, as well as the organisational processes and data that relate one to the other and informs the designer's view of their users. Through direct engagement with users, designers and producers, BRIDGE will contribute to the design of new products, services and interfaces. As design improves and becomes more socially inclusive, better and more sustainable relationships can be established with consumers. This knowledge can be used to identify opportunities for expansion within global markets for UK industry and hence has the potential to benefit individuals, society and the economy overall

Estimating the recreational value of freshwater inflows into the Klein and Kwelera estuaries: An application of the zonal travel cost method

This study estimates the change in aggregate consumer surplus associated with increased freshwater supply into two South African estuaries, namely, the Klein and the Kwelera. The estimation entailed the application of a contingent behaviour, single-site Clawson-Knetsch travel cost model. The value estimates derived reflect the benefit of improved freshwater supplies into the estuaries in question over the status quo. In a survey, a questionnaire was administered face-to-face to 240 households at the Klein Estuary and 231 households at the Kwelera Estuary during the period between December 2005 and April 2006. It was deduced that in 2006 the marginal recreational value of freshwater inflow into the Klein Estuary was 5.7 cents/m3 (ZAR0.057/m3) and into the Kwelera Estuary 1.1 cents/m3 (ZAR0.011/m3).Keywords: estuary, water abstraction, revealed preference, single-site, travel cost method, freshwater inflow

A choice experiment application to estimate willingness to pay for controlling excessive recreational fishing demand at the Sundays River Estuary, South Africa

The Sundays River Estuary, situated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, has excessive recreational demand for estuarine services, specifically recreational fishing. The estuary has been over-fished, putting its sustainability at risk. Various management interventions may be required in order to save it, but how is this to be done without reducing welfare? The main aim of this paper is twofold: first, to assess and comprehend the economic value of the estuarine resources at stake; and, second, to propose policy measures to redress the situation (excessive demand, specifically recreational fishing). An application of a choice experiment reveals that the physical size of fish stocks is a very important predictor of recreational choice at the Sundays River Estuary, and it is recommended that demand be curtailed through an increase in the boat license fee for using the estuary of ZAR174 per annum.Keywords: Estuary, demand management, recreational attributes, recreational fishery, choice experimen

Application of the contingent valuation method to estimate a recreational value for the freshwater inflows into the Kowie and the Kromme Estuaries

This paper assesses the amount recreational users are willing to pay to secure an increase in freshwater inflows into 2 South African estuaries, the Kowie and the Kromme. A questionnaire was administered to 150 respondents at each estuary site during the period December 2002 to January 2003. The values of freshwater inflows into the Kowie and the Kromme Estuaries were calculated at R0.072/m3 and R0.013/m3, respectively. Total WTP values were estimated at R938 296.59 and R974 019.20, respectively. A valuation function to predict willingness-to-pay was predicted using the Tobit model estimation of linear bid functions. Annual levies paid (consisting of fishing licences, boat registration fees, etc.), distance of current accommodation to estuary, number of household members, primary use of estuary (i.e. recreation or commercial), how informed the respondent was and investment in boats and vehicles were shown to be important predictors of willingness-to-pay in the case of the Kromme Estuary. Level of education, race of respondent, annual levies paid, investment in estuary access equipment and respondent status (i.e., visitor vs. non-visitor) were shown to be important predictors of willingness-to-pay in the case of the Kowie Estuary. An expectations validity assessment indicated that the estimates were credible

Improving navigability on the Kromme River Estuary: A choice experiment application

Navigation of estuaries is a vitally important aspect of boating recreation in South Africa and elsewhere. This paper uses a choice experiment to estimate recreation values of the Kromme River Estuary, a popular estuary along South Africa’s east coast. This valuation methodology allows for the identification of preferred management strategies through the trade-offs made by estuarine recreational users. It is found that the level of navigability is the most important predictor of user choice, and argued that more attention needs to be paid to options for improving navigability and methods to fund these interventions. It is concluded that an increase in licence fee of ZAR402 would improve recreational value.Keywords: estuary, recreational attributes, navigability, choice experiment, willingness-to-pay, conditional logit model, random parameters logit mode

The Beta Generalized Exponential Distribution

We introduce the beta generalized exponential distribution that includes the beta exponential and generalized exponential distributions as special cases. We provide a comprehensive mathematical treatment of this distribution. We derive the moment generating function and the $r$th moment thus generalizing some results in the literature. Expressions for the density, moment generating function and $r$th moment of the order statistics also are obtained. We discuss estimation of the parameters by maximum likelihood and provide the information matrix. We observe in one application to real data set that this model is quite flexible and can be used quite effectively in analyzing positive data in place of the beta exponential and generalized exponential distributions