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

NOEP
to its warmer climate. For this study the value of beaches and coastal areas has been
calculated to demonstrate their importance to the California economy, and the significance
of maintaining both. Protecting the beaches from pollution is only part of the challenge; they
also are eroding because California, like other places, has damned up most of its coastal
watersheds, thus preventing the fresh-running waters carrying essential nourishing sediments
to the coast. As a result, California conducts some artificial beach nourishment to ensure its
revenues from tourism continue, and to protect this unique and desirable asset.
Californians can boast a long list of challenges and activities that dominate the California
coastal landscape. These activities require monitoring and management to ensure that the
shores of California can sustain the pressures and deliver the amenities and goods the public
seeks. To date, however, there has been little information about the value of the coast and
ocean to the state of California, and even less information about how these values have
changed over time. Likewise, there continues to be little understanding of the state’s
economic dependence on these natural resources. Uncovering California’s relationships to
the ocean and its economy is the purpose of this report.
1.2 About this Study
This report is an update of a study of California’s Ocean Economy that was undertaken in
1994 by staff of the California Research Bureau, 5 and later published as part of a larger
report in 1997 by the California Resources Agency. 6 A research team from the National
Ocean Economics Program (NOEP), headquartered at the University of Southern California
(1999-2003) and California State University at Monterey Bay (2003-present), has conducted a
national investigation into the ocean-based economy of the United States.
The general outline and scope of the 1994 study were followed, but there are some
differences. This report incorporates the latest data and analytic techniques developed by the
NOEP to measure the Ocean Economy of all states, and thus yields somewhat different
estimates. Data from the years 1990 and 2000 shows changes in the California Ocean
Economy over time utilizing a single methodology in order to provide a nationally consistent
approach to measuring the ocean and coastal economy of the US. The NOEP methodology
permits greater precision in estimates, particularly in tourism and recreation, and also
provides data that permits measurement over time. Appendix A contains a brief discussion
of the methodological issues involved in preparing this report. More detailed information
can be found in Measurement of the Ocean and Coastal Economy: Theory and Methods (Colgan
2003). 7
NOEP developed its methodology because the data available to measure the Ocean
Economy were imperfect for the following reasons: (1) standard economic data series
available for this study were not designed to measure in detail the relationship between the
5 R. Moeller and J. Fitz, 1994. An Economic Assessment of Ocean Dependent Activities, Sacramento: California Research Bureau.
6 The Resources Agency, California, 1997. California’s Ocean Resources: An Agenda for the Future.
7 C. Colgan, 2003. Measurement of the Ocean and Coastal Economy: Theory and Methods working paper, NOEP,
.
6