A benefit-cost analysis of a red drum stock enhancement program in South Carolina

Abstract

Recreational saltwater anglers from the mid-Atlantic through the Gulf of Mexico commonly target red drum. Due to concerns about overharvesting within South Carolina coupled with regional management actions, South Carolina explored the technical feasibility of stocking hatchery-produced juvenile red drum as a technique to augment the abundance of South Carolina stock. In order to assess a continued program, in 2005 a mail survey was used to collect data for estimating the economic benefits with the contingent valuation method. The theoretical validity of willingness to pay was assessed by comparison to the value of a change in red drum fishing trips that would result from the program. Benefits were compared to estimated, explicit stocking costs. We illustrate how a certainty recode approach can be used in sensitivity analysis. The net present values (NPVs) for the stocking program are positive suggesting that the program would have been economically efficient relative to no program.

Oyster Economics: Simulated Costs, Market Returns, and Nonmarket Ecosystem Benefits of Harvested and Nonharvested Reefs, Off-Bottom Aquaculture, and Living Shorelines

“…Red drum is primarily a recreational species, with commercial catch limited to small amounts in only a handful of states. We rely on Rhodes et al (2018) for the estimated range of values for red drum. 5 Similar to the case of oysters, red drum prices have increased nearly monotonically over the past 20 years, so we construct a triangular distribution in the same manner as that of oysters.…”

A Retrospective Benefit-Cost Analysis on the Elwha River Restoration Project

“…One calibration approach is to ask positive respondents a follow-up question to determine their level of certainty about their WTP, with results suggesting that including only those with a high degree of certainty yields CV valuations that best approximate valuations calculated by other techniques (Champ & Bishop, 2001;Blomquist et al, 2009;Rhodes et al, 2018). 26 Blomquist et al look at WTP estimates for three medical interventions that respondents were first asked about in a CV context, and were then given the option to purchase.…”