Recreational Values of Gulf Grouper

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Recreational Values of Gulf Grouper

• John Whitehead, Appalachian State University
• Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
• Socioeconomic Panel
• Miami, Florida Thursday May 3, 2007

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Outline

• An overview of the MARFIN project
• Decisions made to date about MRFSS data
• Progress report / future effort
• Preliminary results from the Gulf of Mexico reef
  fish model

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Angler Heterogeneity and Species-Specific Demand
for Recreational Fishing in the Southeast United
States

• Tim Haab (Ohio State University)
• Rob Hicks (College of William and Mary)
• Kurt Schnier (University of Rhode Island)
• John Whitehead (Appalachian State University)

MARFIN NA06NMF4330055
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Previous NMFS/MRFSS Recreational Valuation
Research

• McConnell and Strand, 1994
• Hicks, Steinbeck, Gautam, Thunberg, 1999
• Haab, Whitehead, and Ted McConnell, 2000
• Haab, Hicks, Whitehead, 2004

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We are considering

• Targeting behavior
• Compare various angler targeting models
• single-species
• aggregates of related species
• all species combined

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We are considering

• Species substitution
• Estimate angler willingness to substitute to
  other species or species groups when fishing
  quality or fishing management changes

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We will

• Estimate how willingness to substitute species
  might differ by angler type
• socioeconomic factors
• preferences
• gear type (i.e., mode)

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We will

• Provide species-specific estimates of economic
  value for
• changes in fishing quality
• management (e.g., size limits, bag limits)

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To date

• We have identified the feasibility of demand
  modeling at the species level
• Estimated two preliminary demand models

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MRFSS 2000

• LA to NC
• n 70,781
• Southeast 2000 (Limited Valuation Round)
• n 42,079
• Hook and line trips only (99), day trips only
  (67) self-reported and lt 200 miles one-way
  distance, delete missing values on key variables
• n 18,709 /-
• Targets a species
• n11,257 /-

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Fishing mode
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State of intercept
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Species

• 425 unique species caught by recreational anglers
  sampled by the MRFSS
• 15 species account for 82 of the targeting
  activity and 38 of the (type 1) catch

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Target Behavior (Prim1)
sign
Intercept p lt .01
Years fished p lt .01
Boat owner p lt .01
Shore mode - p lt .01
Charter mode - p lt .01
Days fished p lt .01
Wave 4 -
Wave 5 p lt .01
Wave 6 p lt .01
Gulf - p lt .01
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Traditional species groups
Big game 4
Bottom fish 4
Flat fish 5
Small game 11
Snapper - grouper 15
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Top target species of interest from RFP
Red drum 20
Dolphin 6
King mackerel 6
Spanish mackerel 4
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Four demand models are being pursued

• Florida Atlantic Big Game
• Dolphin
• Big game fish
• Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish
• Snappers
• Shallow water groupers
• Red snapper

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Four demand models

• Inshore small game Red drum, spotted seatrout,
  small game
• Offshore small game King mackerel, spanish
  mackerel, small game

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GOM Reef Fish Intercept Sites (n 1224)
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(No Transcript)
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Target Species
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Snappers (n 160)
gray snapper 48.13
sheepshead 23.75
white grunt 11.88
black sea bass 3.75
crevalle jack 3.75
amberjack genus 1.88
gray triggerfish 1.88
snapper family 1.25
yellowtail snapper 1.25
atlantic spadefish 0.63
blackfin snapper 0.63
blue runner 0.63
vermilion snapper 0.63
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Shallow water groupers (n 725)
unidentified grouper 73.38
gag 17.38
red grouper 6.07
grouper genus Mycteroperca 2.9
black grouper 0.28
Red snapper (n 239)
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Mode
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Random Utility Models

• Conditional Logit
• Nested Logit
• Mixed Logit
• Latent Class Model

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Conditional Logit
Party/charter boatcounty sites
Private/rental boat county sites
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Nested Logit
Party/charter
Private/rental
Counties
Counties
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Variables

• 71 Species/Mode/Site choices
• Travel cost
• party/charter TC charter fee driving costs
  time costs
• private/rental TC driving costs time costs
• Quality
• 5-year historic (type 1) targeted catch rate
• Predicted type 1 catch rate
• Number of MRFSS interview sites in the county

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Conditional Logit
Coeff t-stat
tcfee -0.038 -30.58
snapper 0.077 7.41
grouper 1.178 29.71
redsnapper 0.628 22.87
Log(sites) 0.767 14.16
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Mixed Logit
Coeff t-stat
tcfee_M -0.070 -28.04
tcfee_S 0.034 7.79
snapper 0.046 3.5
grouper 1.19 20.88
redsnapper 0.77 24.35
lognsite 0.66 11.93
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Value of one additional fish per trip
Conditional Mixed
Snapper 2 1
Grouper 31 17
Red snapper 17 11
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Recreational value of an allocation change

• V x D x H
• Value per fish V
• Change in harvest D
• Current harvest H

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Gag
STATE MODE DH Value
ALABAMA CHARTER 997 16,944
ALABAMA PRIVATE/RENTAL 1,193 20,276
WEST FLORIDA CHARTER 10,503 178,551
WEST FLORIDA PRIVATE/RENTAL 29,971 509,512
LOUISIANA CHARTER 304 5,161
LOUISIANA PRIVATE/RENTAL 381 6,475
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Red Grouper
STATE MODE DH Value
ALABAMA CHARTER 447 7,602
ALABAMA PRIVATE/RENTAL 104 1,765
WEST FLORIDA CHARTER 7,659 130,203
WEST FLORIDA PRIVATE/RENTAL 12,012 204,199
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Contact

• John Whitehead
• Department of Economics
• Appalachian State University
• Boone, NC 28608
• whiteheadjc_at_appstate.edu
• http//www.appstate.edu/whiteheadjc