Consumer Attitudes and Consumption Choices in the California Salmon Market

After decades of decline, real salmon prices paid to California fishermen have rebounded in the past few years. This recent price recovery is probably due in part to reduced availability of fresh salmon in local markets, but anecdotal evidence suggests increased product differentiation by consumers is also an important part of the story. In this paper, we report on a survey undertaken to assess California salmon consumer attitudes and consumption patterns. Among other product attributes, the survey focuses on issues related to food sourcing: whether the fish is local, domestic, or international; whether the fish is from a certified (organic or sustainable) fishery; and general concerns over food safety and environmental impact

Using Choice Models to Inform Marine Spatial Planning: A Case Study of Marine Protected Area Designs off the U.S. West Coast

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a process that planners can use to make decisions about different, sometimes conflicting, ocean uses.  The process is intended to be participatory and to facilitate the sharing of information about multiple uses of the marine environment.  In the U.S. an important component of MSP is the development of marine plans for nine coastal and marine regions, including the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, Great Lakes, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Pacific Islands, and Alaska/Arctic.  Plans are developed by and for each region, and provide “information about specific issues, resources, or areas of interest to better inform existing [or future] management measures.”  This paper contributes to the information needs of MSP on the West Coast by examining public preferences for different marine protected area (MPA) designs sited in West Coast federal waters.  Using data from over 3,000 randomly selected households in California, Oregon, and Washington we estimate choice models and calculate economic values (willingness-to-pay) for a suite of different size-use MPA configurations.  Our results show that designating ~15.6% of west coast Federal waters as a mixed-use MPA yields the highest economic value.  Results also underscore the significance of the use regime allowed within MPA boundaries, demonstrating considerably different threshold sizes above which diminishing returns and negative economic values are derived from no-access, no-take, and limited use MPAs.  Our results should be useful for MSP planners desiring stakeholder input on marine conservation and managing the multiple uses of the open ocean.

An Application of Stated Preference Non-Market Valuation to Value Improvements to Threatened and Endangered Species

Non-market valuation research has produced value estimates for over forty threatened and endangered (T&E) species, including mammals, fish, birds, and crustaceans. Increasingly Stated Preference Choice Experiments (SPCE) are utilized for valuation, as the format offers flexibility for policy analysis and may reduce certain types of response biases as compared to the more traditional Contingent Valuation method. Additionally, SPCE formats can allow respondents to make trade-offs among multiple species, providing information on the distinctiveness of preferences for different T&E species. In this paper we present results of a SPCE involving three U.S. ESA-listed species: the Puget Sound Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, the Hawaiian monk seal Monachus schauinslandi, and the smalltooth sawfish Pristis pectinata. We estimate values for improving each species ESA listing status and statistically compare WTP among the three species using a method of convolutions approach. Our results suggest that respondents have distinct preferences for the three species, and that WTP estimates differ, depending on the species and the level of improvement to their ESA-status. Further, we find that even slight improvements to all three species seem to be more valuable than scenarios where one or two species recover but the third species remains at its statusquo level. Our results should be of interest to researchers and policymakers, as we provide value estimates for three species that have limited, if any, estimates available in the economics literature, as well as new information about the way respondents make trade-offs among three taxonomically different species.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Value of Ecosystem Services, Special Topic

Environmental attitudes in the aftermath of the Gulf Oil Spill

In the 1960s and 1970\u27s, prominent environmental disasters seemed to mobilize the U.S. public, and many key environmental laws were subsequently enacted. Theories surrounding public opinion formation, however, generally regard single events as unlikely to impact attitudes in a major way. Given the conflicting evidence provided by anecdotal accounts and public opinion theory, we explore whether the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Gulf Oil Spill) impacted public concern for the environment in the United States. In this study we use data from a national-level survey implemented before and after the Gulf Oil Spill to examine pre- and post-spill environmental attitudes as measured by a subset of the New Ecological Paradigm scale. We find that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the recent Gulf Oil Spill had a significant impact on environmental attitudes, a result consistent with theories concerning the influence of individual events on public opinion. Additional findings imply that some types of messages are likely to be more effective than others in public communications about the environment

Actual Versus Hypothetical WTA Stated Values for Recreational Fishing Licenses: Experimental Evidence of Fish Tales

We compared hypothetical willingness to accept (WTA) values for Massachusetts saltwater recreational fishing licenses with WTA values obtained in an actual (simulated) marketplace. Using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation approach, our results align with past evidence that found WTA values elicited from hypothetical transactions overstate those derived from an actual marketplace. We also provide the first evidence about the effectiveness of an ex-post certainty adjustment technique in a WTA environment. While the adjustment technique has been found to eliminate hypothetical bias in willingness to pay (WTP) settings, we find that when applied in a WTA setting, the approach mitigates but does not eliminate the overstated hypothetical WTA bias. We provide some theoretical conjecture as to the likely reasons why the certainty adjustment approach failed to remove the hypothetical WTA bias in our study and conclude with some practical policy implications

The Evolution of Non-Market Valuation of U.S. Coastal and Marine Resources

At the federal level, particularly within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), regulatory and programmatic needs have driven the continued development and application of non-market valuation approaches to marine and coastal resources. The evolution of these valuation approaches not only entails adopting the recommendations of the 1993 NOAA blue ribbon panel on contingent valuation, but also an expansion of stated preference approaches with increased use of stated preference choice experiments. Revealed preference approaches have also advanced with more sophisticated random utility models. We provide an overview of this evolution in the areas of natural resources damage assessment, protected resources, recreational fisheries, and coastal management. With the broad adoption of an ecosystem services approach to marine and coastal resource management, the demand for valuation of ecosystem services has grown and will continue to provide the impetus for more studies similar to those presented. Similar to what occurred initially as a result of the blue ribbon study, greater adoption of valuation estimates, particularly for non-use value, may be facilitated by guidance and standards from a high-level or highly respected authority. La evolución de la valoración no basada en el mercado de recursos marinos y costeros de Estados Unidos Lea el abstracto en español 请点击此处阅读中文摘

Recreational fishing in California’s Central Valley: results of a 2015 study

In 2015, baseline expenditure and trip behavior information about angler activity across a 14-county region of California’s Central Valley was collected. The motivation for this study was twofold: to learn about existing recreational fishing levels in the Sacramento River system, and to understand how these levels might change if fishing opportunities in areas above dams also changed. That is, under what conditions might anglers be interested in new fishing opportunities for species such as salmon, if fish passage improvements over dams were to occur? This talk will discuss current highlights from this study including results from a preliminary model developed to estimate the probability of fishing at a particular location as a function of site conditions and angler characteristics

Applying a Bioeconomic Model to Recreational Fisheries Management in the Northeast U.S.: The Good, the Bad, and the Just Plain Ugly

This research combines a utility-theory consistent model of demand for recreational fishing trips with an age-structured stock dynamics model to provide policy relevant advice to managers of the groundfish fishery in the Northeast United States.  We provide an overview of the model and describe the challenges encountered with using this modeling approach to develop recreational fishery policies.  Specifically, time lags in the availability of scientific information, uncertainties in that information, and institutional constraints of the management system can be obstacles to using this modeling approach effectively.  Despite these shortcomings, we believe integration of this decision support tool into the fishery management process represents a substantial step forward in the science of fisheries management

Adherence to Best Practices for Stated Preference Valuation within the U.S. Marine Ecosystem Services Literature

Non-market economic values derived from stated preference (SP) methods are often of interest for policy analysis and evaluation, program design, green accounting, and damage assessments and are increasingly in demand with adoption of ecosystem-based management approaches that emphasize accounting for ecosystem services and their values. A recent guidance prescribes a set of twenty-three best practices guidelines (BPGs) to follow when conducting a SP study to ensure the validity of the results and maximize its ability to provide reliable economic value information. In this article, we evaluate adherence to these guidelines within the U.S. SP marine ecosystem service valuation literature. Our results suggest adherence by the literature to the guidelines is heterogeneous with none of the studies examined adhering to all guidelines and some guidelines being adhered to better than others. Evidence points to adherence differences between older and more recent studies, between studies using different SP valuation methods, and between studies valuing recreation ecosystem services and ones valuing other ecosystem services. Furthermore, a citation analysis suggests studies addressing elements embodied in the BPGs tend to have more citations all else being equal. We discuss several challenges to valuing marine ecosystem services and areas for improvement and inquiry