Pew Oceans Commission

1
Pew Oceans Commission

• Geoffrey Heal
• Columbia Business School

2
Ocean economics

• Commercial fishing
• Sport fishing
• Recreational amenity value

3
Fishery economics

• Commercial fishing contributes about 29 billion
  to US GNP
• Sport fishing contributes more perhaps twice as
  much

4
Economics of ocean tourism

• No consistent estimates but probably contributes
  about 500 billion to economies of U.S. coastal
  states
• Whale watching, bird watching, scuba diving are
  major factors in the local economies in several
  states, contributing 100s of millions

5
Economics of ocean tourism

• CA ocean tourism contributed 12 bn of 1300 bn
  GSP in 2000
• Fla 8 bn of 470 bn GSP in 2000

6
Economics of ocean access

• People place vast economic value on the oceans.
• Imagine a nice suburban house 10 miles inland,
  selling for about 400,000.
• Place it on the coast, on the waterfront now it
  will sell for many time more.
• Why?

7
Value of the oceans

• Because people value the oceans and having a
  connection with them. Oceans matter to us, so
  much that one of our most basic decisions where
  to live is strongly influenced by this.

8
Value of the oceans

• When people decide it really matters to them to
  live by the oceans, they are thinking of clean,
  productive oceans.
• Not oceans with algal blooms dead zones
• Studies show property prices, tax base affected
  by cleanliness

9
Recap on ocean economics

• Commercial fishing
• Recreational fishing
• Recreational amenity values
• denotes most important

10
Ocean policy

• All these sources of value are being threatened
  by two factors
• Overfishing
• Pollution
• Coastal development

11
Fisheries policy

• Two goals are critical
• Kill fewer fish, at least in the short run
• Damage ocean habitats less
• Requires managing take better and
• Managing mobile gear use better, e.g. by zoning
• Use of MPAs
• Managing pollution

12
Fisheries policy by-catch

• Fish are killed as
• Catch and
• By-catch
• The by-catch ratio is insane sometimes by-catch
  and high-grading together lead to as many deaths
  as catching
• We can eat more fish and kill fewer if we address
  this issue

13
Fisheries policy quotas

• How do we reduce catch?
• By establishing quotas for each fishery, on the
  basis of a scientifically-valid plan
• Ecosystem-wide and based on a sustainable plan
  for the industry
• Then ensuring that catch is within the quotas

14
Fisheries policy

• Clear evidence from
• Alaska and
• Maine
• That these policies work and can restore a viable
  and sustainable fish population and fishing
  community

15
Pollution

• Also critically important to control pollution of
  the oceans mainly land-generated
• Non point source pollution from farms Gulf dead
  zone
• Vehicle emissions
• Oil runoff in U.S. Exxon Valdez every 8 months

16
Development

• CZMA is inadequate
• Poorly managed coastal development leads to
  pollution and
• Damages tourism, property values tax base

17
Property values
Quantity of development
Tax base