The divers chartering boats also stay in hotels, motels, visit 

 restaurants, and purchase air and other equipment. These economic multi- 

 plier effects were counted by using a regional service sector multiplier. 

 The multiplier selected for these commercial dive boats was 3.203 (BEA 

 1977, p. 44). Thus, their total economic value for purposes of analysis 

 was estimated at $800,750. Almost all of this income is derived from 

 the 5 square mile or Boundary Option #2. 



The Newfound Harbor Marine Institute on Big Pine Key, a non-profit 

 organization offering one of the most comprehensive marine education opportuni- 

 ties in the Florida Keys, focuses upon the nearby Looe Key coral reef and other 

 coral assemblages in the general vicinity, for year round teaching. Seacamp, a 

 part of the Institute, offers a variety of educational programs to students in 

 the 4th grade through graduate school in college. Between 5,000 and 6,000 

 persons participate in the 3 to 30 day programs each year. 



The analysis did not attempt to count income generated to the area 

 from marinas, fishing lodges or educational organizations due to the 

 lack of sufficient information. 



c. Tropical Specimen Collectors 



Tropical fish collectors who catch and sell the brightly colored reef 

 fishes of the coral reef for home aquaria and research purposes are one 

 small user group at Looe Key. While areas of extensive coral growth, 

 such as Looe Key, are not generally suitable as collecting areas because 

 of the many hiding places afforded by the reef, interview schedules and 

 information provided by persons familiar with the tropical fish industry 

 indicated that there was a limited amount of collecting occurring at Looe 

 Key. 



Estimates, based on these sources, of the total value of tropical fish 

 collected yearly in the area, ranges from $200,000 to 250,000. Of these 

 figures, roughly $25,400 to $31,750 worth is collected in Boundary Option 

 #2. The regional multiplier effect would increase these estimates to 

 between $582,000 and $782,500 in the entire area. The Boundary Option 

 #2 generated income would lie between $74,000 and $92,500. 



d. Private Recreational Users 



Most sources interviewed agreed that the largest user group of the reef 

 combines skin and SCUBA divers and recreational fishermen. It is in the 

 measurement of this group's contributed economic value to the reef that 

 the greatest number of assumptions have to be made and the most qualifiers 

 have to be placed on any figure. 



Commercial recreational questionnaires estimated that average daily 

 private boat visits to the proposed Looe Key 4.9 nmi sanctuary ranged 

 between a low of 11 and a high of 23. (Each of these is a weighted 



c-n 



