Premium
Relationships between Economic Benefit and Sport‐Fishing Effort on West Point Reservoir, Alabama‐Georgia
Author(s) -
Palm Roger C.,
Malvestuto Stephen P.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1983)112<71:rbebas>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishing , attendance , fishery , geography , morone , population , agricultural economics , bass (fish) , economics , demography , economic growth , sociology , biology
A roving creel survey was used to collect information on county of origin and fishing‐trip expenses for anglers visiting West Point Reservoir, Georgia‐Alabama, during the first five fishing seasons after impoundment, February‐October, 1976–1980. Use‐prediction models were developed to explain variation in attendance of various user‐segments (bank, boat, bass, and crappie anglers) from participating counties on the basis of county population sizes and distances of counties from the reservoir. The models were used in conjunction with differential travel costs from the counties to the reservoir to estimate net economic benefit in the form of consumersˈ surplus. The average annual consumersˈ surplus for the fishery was estimated to be $1,913,000, which translates to $8.90 per angler‐day. The percentage contribution of various user‐segments to annual fishing effort was not, except for crappie anglers, an accurate indicator of relative contribution to annual consumersˈ surplus. Simple regression equations suggest that net economic value can be predicted by the use of more readily obtainable information acquired through statistically designed angler surveys.