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Testing the feasibility of a hypothetical whaling‐conservation permit market in Norway
Author(s) -
Huang Biao,
Abbott Joshua K.,
Fenichel Eli P.,
Muneepeerakul Rachata,
Perrings Charles,
Gerber Leah R.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/cobi.12916
Subject(s) - whaling , whale , gridlock , natural resource economics , wildlife conservation , fishery , nonmarket forces , range (aeronautics) , environmental resource management , economics , geography , habitat , ecology , engineering , biology , microeconomics , politics , political science , factor market , law , aerospace engineering
A cap‐and‐trade system for managing whale harvests represents a potentially useful approach to resolve the current gridlock in international whale management. The establishment of whale permit markets, open to both whalers and conservationists, could reveal the strength of conservation demand, about which little is known. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult to predict the outcome of a hypothetical whale permit market. We developed a bioeconomic model to evaluate the influence of economic uncertainty about demand for whale conservation or harvest. We used simulations over a wide range of parameterizations of whaling and conservation demands to examine the potential ecological consequences of the establishment of a whale permit market in Norwegian waters under bounded (but substantial) economic uncertainty. Uncertainty variables were slope of whaling and conservation demand, participation level of conservationists and their willingness to pay for whale conservation, and functional forms of demand, including linear, quadratic, and log‐linear forms. A whale‐conservation market had the potential to yield a wide range of conservation and harvest outcomes, the most likely outcomes were those in which conservationists bought all whale permits.