Estimating Recreation and Existence Values of Sea Otter Expansion in California Using Benefit Transfer

Abstract

This article demonstrates how benefit transfer can quantify tourism and existence values. Existing literature values of sea otters and a meta analysis yield benefit estimates of several million dollars for the increased number of sea otters expected by USFWS in the next decade if the “no otter zone” is eliminated and otters allowed to expand along the Santa Barbara coast. These benefit estimates of sea otter expansion exceed the costs to commercial fishing. Thus the benefit transfer approach can contribute to a more complete economic analysis of endangered species recovery or critical habitat efforts than the current USFWS approach.