Quantifying Recreational Use of an Estuary: A Case Study of Three Bays, Cape Cod, USA

Abstract

Estimates of the types and number of recreational users visiting an estuary are critical data for quantifying the value of recreation and how that value might change with variations in water quality or other management decisions. However, estimates of recreational use are minimal and conventional intercept surveys methods are often infeasible for widespread application to estuaries. Therefore, a practical observational sampling approach was developed to quantify the recreational use of an estuary without the use of surveys. Designed to be simple and fast to allow for replication, the methods involved the use of periodic instantaneous car counts multiplied by extrapolation factors derived from all-day counts. This simple sampling approach can be used to estimate visitation to diverse types of access points on an estuary in a single day as well as across multiple days. Evaluation of this method showed that when periodic counts were taken within a preferred time window (from 11am-4:30pm), the estimates were within 44 percent of actual daily visitation. These methods were applied to the Three Bays estuary system on Cape Cod, USA. The estimated combined use across all its public access sites is similar to the use at a mid-sized coastal beach, demonstrating the value of estuarine systems. Further, this study is the first to quantify the variety and magnitude of recreational uses at several different types of access points throughout the estuary using observational methods. This work can be transferred to the many small coastal access points used for recreation across New England and beyond.

Using data derived from cellular phone locations to estimate visitation to natural areas: An application to water recreation in New England, USA

“…This is especially true regarding machine-learning algorithms [47]. For example, with small and practical tweaks in the way visitation records are collected at water-access areas, such as collecting periodic counts of cars and people at specific times, visitation records could become more harmonized and useful [12,41]. From there, visitation proxies like cell data or social media-based models can provide a platform for spatial and temporal extrapolation across broad geographies, as we demonstrate here.…”

“…Visitation observation methods also vary because the context for taking them differ. Although the objective may be the same, observing visitation at a major beach requires different methods than those used for a set of small access points around an estuary [41]. By comparing and calibrating our data to a combined set representing the variety of recreational visitation count methods that exist in the real world, we show the ability of cell data to both replicate the types of data that are traditionally used and to bridge the various observational visitation records common around natural resources.…”

“…The public access points include beaches, docks, boat ramps, and landings. Observational data from this study include visitation estimates for 11 public access points for seven days from June to August, 2017 [41]. (N = 72) • Large: Narragansett Town Beach in Rhode Island is a popular destination for tourists and residents.…”

Using Data Derived from Cellular Phone Locations to Estimate Visitation to Natural Areas: An Application to Water Recreation in New England, USA.

“…The public access points include beaches, docks, boat ramps, and landings. Observational data from this study include visitation estimates for 11 public access points for seven days from June to August, 2017 [41]. (N=72) The cell data product did not provide counts for the block of time that corresponded to our visitation counts (9AM-4PM), but rather by individual hours.…”

A novel approach to evaluating water quality impacts on visitation to coastal recreation areas on Cape Cod using data derived from cell phone locations.

“…Environmental degradation is increasingly recognized as having harmful social and economic consequences. Capturing the mode and magnitude of these consequences relies on measurement of human behavior, but the methods of measurement have constrained the ability to reveal the impacts of environmental quality [1,2]. Environmental characteristics like aesthetics and weather are commonly associated with influencing the demand for coastal recreation; however, the spatial heterogeneity of water resources combined with the lack of visitor counts for coastal access points makes the quantification of visitor behavior especially challenging [3,4].…”