The Economic Value of Water and Ecosystem Preservation

According to the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, between 5,000
and 10,000 ecotourists visit the four-day Hummer/Bird Festival annually (Ridgely,
2005). A survey sent to festival attendees in 1995 determined that approximately
4,500 nonresident visitors to the festival contributed $1.1 million to the local
community (Kim, Scott et al., 1998). The Chamber of Commerce speculates that
the total direct expenditure during the festival is much higher today because four
‘major properties’ have since been constructed, allowing more visitors to attend.
During the festival, there are no hotel vacancies in town.
The Guadalupe Estuary is the winter home to the only self-sustaining
population of endangered whooping cranes. Reduced inflows may jeopardize the
survival chances of this rare bird which draws thousands of bird-watchers to the
area every year. Whooping cranes depend on blue crabs as their primary food
source during the winter months. When freshwater inflows are high, there are
more blue crabs available for the cranes to eat. TPWD data suggests that water
inflows greater than 1.3 million acre-feet annually results in low enough salinities
in the estuary to produce high numbers of blue crabs (Longley, 1994). In San
Antonio Bay, the years with the highest harvests all had inflows greater than 3
million acre-feet (Stehn, 2001). In times of lower inflows, blue crab populations
fall sharply resulting in an increase in crane mortality (Stehn, 2003).
This is only one example of the many complex ecosystem interactions that
are disrupted by fluctuations in freshwater inflows. Without an intact ecosystem,
the entire region could lose millions of dollars that are generated by tourism
revenue from fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and other commercial and
recreational industries that depend on an ecologically sound system. Maintaining
adequate freshwater inflows also benefits area homeowners since studies have
shown that water-based features (including intact wetland ecosystems)
significantly enhance property values (Crompton, 2004).
1.4. Conclusion
This section has provided a brief introduction to the San Antonio Bay region.
There was also a discussion on the importance of freshwater inflows to the
ecology and economy of the Bay. The management of these inflows is the main
motivation behind this study. In particular, there is a need to develop new tools
and methodologies to develop knowledge to guide decision makers.
An estimated value for the water in the production of ecotourism can help to
establish the economic rationale for using scarce water to preserve and maintain
the Bay’s ecosystems. While existing agricultural economics literature provides
some insight in the valuation of water as an input in production, and tourism
economics provides additional insight into the nature of the tourism production
function and product, new methodology must be developed in order to rigorously
examine the value of water in ecotourism production. Ultimately, if the unique
ecosystems of the San Antonio Bay are to survive, they must be recognized as a
valuable natural asset as well as an economically important water user (Mathis,
2004a).”
5