Impact of risk perception on household willingness-to-pay to restock the threatened staghorn coral

Abstract

This study aims to examine whether individuals' attitudes toward the anthropogenic risks facing staghorn corals and coral reef ecosystems off the Southeast (SE) coast of Florida influence their valuation of coral reef ecosystem services and willingness to mitigate risks. We use preference data and psychometric measures characterizing the public's attitudes toward risk elicited through a stated preference survey and integrate them into alternative econometric valuation models to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) to restock and protect the threatened staghorn coral off the SE coast of Florida. The household WTP estimates for the restocking program, marine reserve and combined programs were $179.01, $96.60 and $275.61, respectively. Respondent WTP was strongly dependent on respondents' perception of the anthropogenic risks facing staghorn corals and coral reef ecosystems. Adjusting WTP for risk perception resulted in an average increase of 98% in perceived benefits from unadjusted WTP for the three hypothetical management programs examined. Factors found not to influence WTP include preference elicitation method, use of, and distance to, the resource in question. Coral reef management agencies may want to consider people's attitudes toward risk when designing their public education and engagement programs in support of coral reef restoration.