Valuing freshwater salmon habitat on the west coast of Canada

• Published in: Journal of environmental management 2003-11, Vol.69 (3), p.261-273
• Main Authors: Knowler, Duncan J., MacGregor, Brice W., Bradford, Michael J., Peterman, Randall M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Animals, Wild; Applied ecology; Benefit cost analysis; Bioeconomic models; Biological and medical sciences; Brackish; British Columbia; Coho salmon; Conservation of Natural Resources; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Ecosystem; Environment Design; Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration; Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.); Fish; Fish habitat; Fisheries; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Habitats; Marine; Models, Economic; Oncorhynchus kisutch; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; Population Dynamics; Quality Control; Recreation; Valuation; Water Pollution - prevention & control
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2003.09.001

Changes in land use can potentially reduce the quality of fish habitat and affect the economic value of commercial and sport fisheries that rely on the affected stocks. Parks and protected areas that restrict land-use activities provide benefits, such as ecosystem services, in addition to recreation and preservation of wildlife. Placing values on these other benefits of protected areas poses a major challenge for land-use planning. In this paper, we present a framework for valuing benefits for fisheries from protecting areas from degradation, using the example of the Strait of Georgia coho salmon fishery in southern British Columbia, Canada. Our study improves upon previous methods used to value fish habitat in two major respects. First, we use a bioeconomic model of the coho fishery to derive estimates of value that are consistent with economic theory. Second, we estimate the value of changing the quality of fish habitat by using empirical analyses to link fish population dynamics with indices of land use in surrounding watersheds. In our example, we estimated that the value of protecting habitat ecosystem services is C$0.93 to C$2.63 per ha of drainage basin or about C$1322 to C$7010 per km of salmon stream length (C$1.00=US$0.71). Sensitivity analyses suggest that these values are relatively robust to different assumptions, and if anything, are likely to be minimum estimates. Thus, when comparing alternative uses of land, managers should consider ecosystem services from maintaining habitat for productive fish populations along with other benefits of protected areas.