California's Ocean Economy - California Resources Agency - State ...

NOEP
PART III CONCLUSION
Future Directions in Understanding the Ocean Economy of California
This report has provided a detailed overview of important trends in the California Ocean
Economy. It has relied on both published data sources and analysis of unpublished data
undertaken specifically for analysis of the Ocean Economy. The ocean and coast make vital
contributions to the welfare and economy of Californians, but it also is clear that the nature
of those contributions is changing over time, as the ocean and coast become more and more
a center of tourism and recreation.
This analysis is incomplete due to inadequate time and resources and because multiple
aspects of the California Ocean Economy data are unavailable. Given the importance of the
Ocean Economy, additional investments are warranted in improving the measurement and
tracking of this segment of California’s overall economy. We suggest the following:
1. The Government Sector of the Ocean Economy: This report has concentrated on the
private sector Ocean Economy because the relationship to the ocean can be directly or
indirectly inferred from industrial definitions and geographic locations. Federal, state,
and local governments also are a key part of the Ocean Economy and provide a variety
of services such as parks and resource management, as well as key roles in defense and
homeland security. Because data sources do not permit a separation of function and
geography for government activities, it is difficult to determine the employment levels
needed to maintain the federal, state, and local parks along the ocean, or the size of the
US Navy’s presence in California. Determining the employment levels needed requires
detailed analysis of budgetary and other internal government documents and specific
surveys of local and county governments. The addition of these data would provide a
more complete picture of the Ocean Economy.
2. Improved measurement of ocean recreation values: The Tourism & Recreation sector
now is the single most important part of the Ocean Economy in California. However, as
the analysis in this report shows, the measurement of this key sector is still imprecise. It
is possible to measure the activity that takes place near the shore in industries such as
hotels or restaurants, a large (but unknown) portion of which is related directly to the use
of ocean resources like beaches, boating, or whale watching. There also is a large (and
also unknown) portion of the activity in hotels away from the shore that uses the ocean
resources for at least some portion of recreational activity. Measurement of the number
of people who use beaches (whether tourists or residents) in California is best at state
parks and very uneven through the rest of the coast. There is little measurement at all of
recreational boating except for counting the number of boats. Moreover, these
limitations apply only to market-related economic activity. While studies of the nonmarket
values of California’s beaches have been undertaken, little has been done with the
non-market values of other ocean related resources, such as wildlife viewing. For all the
data available, ocean-based tourism and recreation in California remains a poorly
understood activity from an economic perspective.
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