Kristy Wallmo

Public willingness to pay for recovering and downlisting threatened and endangered marine species.

Nonmarket valuation research has produced economic value estimates for a variety of threatened, endangered, and rare species around the world. Although over 40 value estimates exist, it is often difficult to compare values from different studies due to variations in study design, implementation, and modeling specifications. We conducted a stated-preference choice experiment to estimate the value of recovering or downlisting 8 threatened and endangered marine species in the United States: loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), upper Willamette River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Puget Sound Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi), and smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata). In May 2009, we surveyed a random sample of U.S. households. We collected data from 8476 households and estimated willingness to pay for recovering and downlisting the 8 species from these data. Respondents were willing to pay for recovering and downlisting threatened and endangered marine taxa. Willingness-to-pay values ranged from

Are environmental attitudes influenced by survey context? An investigation of the context dependency of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale.

40/household for recovering Puget Sound Chinook salmon to

Catch-and-Release Fishing: A Comparison of Intended and Actual Behavior of Marine Anglers

73/household for recovering the North Pacific right whale. Statistical comparisons among willingness-to-pay values suggest that some taxa are more economically valuable than others, which suggests that the U.S. publics willingness to pay for recovery may vary by species.

The importance of survey content: Testing for the context dependency of the New Ecological Paradigm Scale

General environmental attitudes are often measured with questions added to surveys about specific environmental or non-environmental issues. Using results from a large-scale national survey on the protection of threatened and endangered marine species, we examine whether the context of the survey in which New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale items are asked influence measured environmental concern. In this application the role that specific threatened or endangered species play in affecting responses to NEP Scale items is explored using a combination of non-parametric and parametric approaches. The results in this case suggest that context does influence stated general environmental attitudes, though the effects of context differ across NEP items.

A comparison of regional and national values for recovering threatened and endangered marine species in the United States

Abstract Research on catch-and-release fishing has typically relied on stated or observed preferences, with few applications that incorporate both data types. Further, most models ignore the effects of species on the release decision. We present a discrete-choice model estimated from stated preference data in which conservation release is a function of the species caught and angler characteristics that include fishing avidity, demographic variables, and three angler orientation measures that assess an anglers catch-and-release ethic, attitude toward fisheries regulations, and need for self-caught fish for food. We then compare our stated preference model predictions for an individual angler with field data on catch-and-release fishing for the same angler. The results provide some important messages for managers. First, all angler characteristics were significant in the discrete-choice model, suggesting that an understanding of angler populations may help predict future catch-and-release behavior. Second,...

Stakeholder Attitudes Toward Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management

Using a regression-based analysis of a survey of U.S. households, we demonstrate that both environmental concern, as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale, and facets of environmental concern, as measured by three NEP factors, are influenced by survey context. Survey respondents were presented with detailed information about two to four threatened and endangered marine species in the United States, including the Endangered Species Act listing status of the species and threats to the survival of the species. All else being equal, measures of environmental concern are influenced by both which species were included in the survey and by the concern expressed about these species. As such, measures of environmental concern are found to be context dependent since they are correlated with the species included in each survey. We also demonstrate that NEP-based measures of environmental concern are affected by socio-demographic variables, opinions about government spending, and environmental knowledge. Given the wide, multi-disciplinary use of the NEP Scale, it is important for researchers to recognize that NEP-based measures of environmental concern may be sensitive to information included in surveys.

Valuing improvements to threatened and endangered marine species: an application of stated preference choice experiments.

It is generally acknowledged that willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates for environmental goods exhibit some degree of spatial variation. In a policy context, spatial variation in threatened and endangered species values is important to understand, as the benefit stream from policies affecting threatened and endangered species may vary locally, regionally, or among certain population segments. In this paper we present WTP estimates for eight different threatened and endangered marine species estimated from a stated preference choice experiment. WTP is estimated at two different spatial scales: (a) a random sample of over 5000 U.S. households and (b) geographically embedded samples (relative to the U.S. household sample) of nine U.S. Census regions. We conduct region-to-region and region-to-nation statistical comparisons to determine whether species values differ among regions and between each region and the entire U.S. Our results show limited spatial variation between national values and values estimated from regionally embedded samples, and differences are only found for three of the eight species. More variation exists between regions, and for all species there is a significant difference in at least one region-to-region comparison. Given that policy analyses involving threatened and endangered marine species can often be regional in scope (e.g., ecosystem management) or may disparately affect different regions, our results should be of high interest to the marine management community.

Temporal stability of stated preferences for endangered species protection from choice experiments

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducted a survey of fi sheries stakeholders on the Gulf and East Coasts of the United States to learn their views on ecosystem-based fi sheries management (EBFM) of fi sheries resources. The survey asked a series of attitude and opinion questions along with general environmental literacy and demographic questions to a sample of 7,850 fi sheries stakeholders, stratifi ed by region. Results indicate that respondents’ knowledge of the status of fi sheries resources is qualitatively similar to NMFS ratings, though generally respondents were less than satisfi ed with current fi sheries management. Results also suggest that, despite concerns over several specifi c measures, respondents generally see potential in an EBFM approach to management. An Ecosystem Approach to Management Ecosystem management is widely acknowledged as a holistic approach to natural resource management—an approach that considers interactions between physical, biological, and human components of an ecosystem and promotes ecosystem health and long-term sustainability (Mace, 2004; Pikitch et al., 2004; U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, 2004; Agardy, 2005; Tudela and Short, 2005; Murawski, 2007). Currently, the approach is a popular prescription to remedy stress and deterioration in marine ecosystems, and it is frequently referenced as necessary in the evolution of marine fi sheries management (Brodziak and Link, 2002; Hilborn et al., 2004; Pikitch et al., 2004). Although an ecosystem approach to fi sheries management has received increasing attention during the last decade, ecosystem management itself is far from novel. In 1970, policy analyst Lyndon Caldwell suggested using ecosystems as a basis for land management, noting that such a shift would require a reconfi guration of the conventional (political) system (Grum bine, 1994). Though an immediate shift did not ensue, by the late 1980’s an ecosystem approach to land management was supported by many scientists and managers (Grumbine, 1994) and by the mid-1990’s ecosystem activities (focused primarily on managing terrestrial or freshwater ecosystems) were underway in 18 federal agencies and many state agencies and private fi rms (Morrissey et al., 1994). Ubiquitous calls for an ecosystem approach for managing marine resources followed (EPAP, 1999; Pikitch et al., 2004) many of which advocated that humans are part of the ecosystem—a relatively novel concept for fisheries management—and thus relationships between human and non-human elements must be accounted for in a management paradigm (Busch et al.2). Though localized examples of ecosystem approaches to fisheries management may have existed prior to 1995, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO, 1995) marked an important step in establishing a framework for ecosystem considerations in fisheries management. This framework, in part, promoted the establishment of principles for responsible fishing and fisheries conservation, the protection of living aquatic resources and their environments, and research on fisheries and their associated ecosystems (FAO, 1995). In the ensuing years, much literature was published on almost every aspect of an ecosystem approach to fi sheries management (EAFM), including what it is and how it should or could be implemented (Link, 2002; Francis 2Busch, W.-D. N., B. L. Brown, and G. F. Mayer (Editors). 2003. Strategic guidance for implementing an ecosystem-based approach to fi sheries management. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA, NMFS, Silver Spring, MD, 62 p. Avail. online at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ocs/mafac/meetings/2003_05/mafac_rev_5th_7Finalwref.pdf. “Ecosystem management integrates scientifi c knowledge of ecological relationships within a complex sociopolitical and values framework toward the general goal of protecting native ecosystem integrity over the long term” (Grumbine, 1994:31). “Ecosystem management is management that is adaptive, is specifi ed geographically, takes into account ecosystem knowledge and uncertainties, considers multiple external infl uences, and strives to balance diverse social objectives” (NOAA1). 1NOAA. 2004. New priorities for the 21st century. National Marine Fisheries Service Strategic Plan updated for FY 2005–FY 2010. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA, 19 p. (avail. from the NOAA Central Library and online at: http:// www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mb/strategic/NMFSstrategicplan200510.pdf).