Field Notes 



Insights into Current Sea Grant Research 



Placing a Value on Recreational Resources 



Everything in today's society has a value. 



But when it comes to determining what clean water, pristine 

 beaches and maritime forests are worth, it's not always easy to ring 

 up a value on the cash register or the calculator. 



Knowing there's no direct method for assessing the value of 

 such natural assets, Sea Grant researchers Kerry Smith and Ray 

 Palmquist, economists in the Resource and Environmental 

 Economics Program at N.C. State University, have devised some 

 indirect ways. 



First, they began studying surveys of recreational fishermen to 

 determine how the fish caught during fishing trips could be linked 

 to water quality. They also assessed how the prospects for 

 different fishing conditions affected the quality of the anglers' 

 fishing experiences, their choice of fishing locations and the 

 amount of money they spent. 



They fed the information into sophisticated economic models 

 that could attach values to improvements in water quality. 



"Because our models incorporated fishing party decisions that 

 were based on the quality of the available fishing spots, we can 

 use them to assess what it's worth to improve water quality at 

 specific locations," Smith says. 



The researchers looked at fishing in the Albemarle-Pamlico 

 estuarine system, including the Tar-Pamlico River. They deter- 

 mined how effluent from factories and farms along the river 

 affected fishing quality and people's decisions about where to fish. 



Using their findings, they were able to say how much people 

 would pay for reductions in pollution from factories or the 

 implementation of farm practices to reduce nutrient runoff. 



"Changes in the quality of environmental resources can be 

 valued even when they are freely accessible," Smith says. "The true 

 value of such changes can be measured by what people would 

 pay to obtain improvements or to avoid deterioration." 



Now Smith and Palmquist are looking at more than just 

 recreational fishing as a way to determine the value of coastal 

 amenities. In Dare County, the duo are broadening their focus to 

 include other recreational activities. 



Using vacation property rents and occupancy rates, they plan 

 to describe how differences in the quality of coastal resources 

 affect people's demands for beach trips. 



Smith says it comes as no surprise that people are willing to 

 pay more for vacation rental property that is close to the ocean or 

 sound. They value the state's beautiful beaches and undeveloped 

 sounds. 



The high valuation of these resources can mean very real 

 dollars to coastal communities such as Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills 



and Kitty Hawk. And those values could also come into play when 

 state officials have to make coastal resource management deci- 

 sions. 



Already Smith and Palmquist have provided information to 

 the N.C. Department of Administration about the proposed 

 offshore oil exploration by Mobil Oil Corp. 



In future models, the Sea Grant economists could evaluate 

 how an oil spill would affect the value of natural resources, the 

 activities associated with these resources and the communities 

 dependent on these activites. 



Or they could plug in different restoration schemes for Outer 

 Banks beaches and detennine how the consequences of the 

 Halloween northeaster will affect the economies of the northern 

 beach communities. 



From the hardening of shorelines with seawalls to water 

 quality in our estuaries, decisions about resource management can 

 be improved by using Smith and Palmquist's "price measures for 

 environmental resources." 



And people value natural assets whether they directly use 

 them or not, Smith says. 



Joe Vacationer may never drop a fishing line into Roanoke 

 Sound, but he wants to know that the resource is there in good 

 condition should he or others want to use it in the future. 



These implicit values also figure into the duo's resource 

 models — models that have gained Smith a place on the Environ- 

 mental Protection Agency's highest ranking committee of scientific 

 advisers. 



— Kathy Hart 



COASTWATCH 17 



