An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century - California Ocean ...

5. THE COASTAL AND OCEANECONOMY BEYOND THE MARKET PLACEThe preceding analysis examines the role of oceanand coastal economic activity using the conventionalmeasures of employment, wages (income), andoutput. These measures tell a vital, but incompletestory of the role of ocean and coastal resources in theeconomic life of the nation. What is left out is are theeconomic values associated with a family spending aday at the local beach, or of surfers or sailors who arepassionate about their use of the oceans, which mayresult in little spending each year that winds upbeing measured in the national income accounts butis an essential part of peoples’ economic lives. Alsomissing are the economic values that naturalresources such as estuaries or coral reefs perform asnurseries for fisheries as natural pollutant cleansingmechanisms and buffers against storm damage.These economic values are very real, but are notmeasured as systematically as with market transaction-basedeconomic activity. Economists have madesubstantial progress in developing methods to measurethese values, but studies of these “non-market”values are sporadic. Some types of resources, such asrecreational resources, have been studied regularly,but only some coastal regions have been studied andmany areas have never been examined. Otherresources are studied only when damaged by eventssuch as an oil spill for purposes of federal law. 20 Theresult is that it is not possible to provide an overviewof these economic values of the ocean and coasts, butonly to provide examples of these values and whythey are important.Estuaries are perhaps the most diverse of coastalenvironmental systems, and so are recognized asbeing among the most valuable. A number of studieshave been done of the economic values associatedwith estuaries, particularly those which are coveredby the National Estuary Program administered byEPA. One such study of the Indian River Lagoon areaof Florida examined the economic values associatedwith recreational fishing in the region, as well as resident’swillingness to pay to restore and enhance theLagoon’s environmental quality. (Apogee Researchand Resource Economic Consultants 2000) Estimatesof the value of marine recreational fishing in excessof expenditures range from $100 to $589 per angler,resulting in an estimate of $140 million per year inrecreational fishing values. This figure is limited tothe residents of the five-county region around theLagoon, and does not include recreational anglersfrom other areas.This study also examined the willingness to payto improve the environmental quality of the estuarythrough programs such as stormwater management,protection of wetlands, and acquisition of lands forconservation purposes. The median values of theseactions per household were estimated to be $40, $25,$19, and $29 respectively. These values werereported whether or not those asked actually usedthe Lagoon or not. Aggregated across the populationof the five-county region, the value of the environmentalquality of the Indian River Lagoon was foundto range between $14.6 million to $25.9 milliondepending on which package of environmentalimprovements residents were asked to value.Coral Reefs are also one the most importantmarine resources and one of the most threatened.Understanding the economic value of the reefs hasbecome an important element in developing restorationand management strategies. A recent study(Cesar, H. et al. 2002) of parts of the reef systems inthe Hawaiian Islands estimates the values of the richcoral reefs of that state to be at least $384 million peryear. The vast majority if this benefit is from tourismand recreation, but it also derives from the enhancedvalue of real estate in areas bordered by coral reefs,the value of the biodiversity of the reef ecosystems,and the values of enhanced commercial and recreationalfisheries productivity.Estimating the value of lost resources fromevents such as oil spills has become an integral partof the response to such disasters. One of the mostimportant of such estimates was the study of thevalue lost to Americans from the damages caused bythe grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989.Studies done for the State of Alaska (Carson, R. T. etal. 1992) found that Americans were highly aware ofthe damage from that spill, and were willing to pay toavoid the losses caused by that oil spill. These studiesfound a median willingness to pay to avoid thedamages of $31 per household, or about $2.8 billionfor the U.S. as a whole. This study became the basisfor the litigation and a settlement arising from whatwas the largest oil spill in U.S. waters.A PPENDIX C: LIVING N EAR… AND M AKING A L IVING F ROM…THE N ATION’ S C OASTS AND O CEANS C 15