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National estimates of the recreational value of streamflow
Author(s) -
Hansen LeRoy T.,
Hallam Arne
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/90wr02402
Subject(s) - streamflow , fishing , recreation , proxy (statistics) , environmental science , downstream (manufacturing) , recreational fishing , agriculture , fishery , marginal value , water resource management , natural resource economics , business , geography , economics , ecology , mathematics , drainage basin , statistics , cartography , archaeology , marketing , biology , microeconomics
This paper presents one practical method of valuing the recreational fishing benefits generated by a unit of water as it moves downstream. A cross‐sectional analysis is employed to estimate the change in individuals' fishing behavior due to a change in availability of fishery resources. A proxy for the availability of stream fishery resources is derived from the link between changes in streamflow consumption to changes in the quality of fishing downstream. The results show that marginal increases in streamflow can generate recreational benefits that exceed the marginal value of water in agriculture in some regions of the country.