Stakeholders' perception and willingness-to-pay for an aquaculture-based fisheries enhancement program for coastal cod in Southern Norway

Abstract

The coastal cod fishery in Southern Norway has experienced a significant decline over the last decades. Recreational fishing for cod in the eastern part of the country is currently banned. Fisheries managers have adopted a variety of strategies to sustain the populations for resource users. Aquaculture-based fisheries enhancement has been considered as an alternative intervention to rebuild overexploited cod stock or to improve the opportunity for marine fishing. However, there has been a debate regarding its ecological and social effectiveness among stakeholders. In this paper, we conducted an online contingent valuation survey aiming to understand stakeholders' perceptions and attitude towards restocking of hatchery-produced juveniles as a potential restoration approach to rebuild depleted coastal cod populations and their willingness to pay for the implementation of such an enhancement program in southern Norway. Results indicate that the public has a positive perception to the potential restocking program. The average Willingness-To-Pay (WTP), e.g. fishing license fee, is approximately 175 NOK and 693 NOK if all of the respondents, and only counting those who are willing to, contribute. The introduction of a minimum fishing license fee of 175 NOK (approximately 17€) would cover the cost of production of over 20 million juvenile cod of appropriate size for release. Age of the respondents, the frequency of their fishing trips, and their perception of the decline of coastal cod were the main drivers for the WTP contribution while the amount of the WTP was strongly correlated to targeting particular species, educational level, and place of residence. Considering the critical situation of the coastal cod populations in southern Norway, together with the significant advances in cod rearing techniques, in fish tagging technology and the maturation of fisheries enhancement as science, and the positive stakeholders' perceptions and attitudes towards such an aquaculture-based enhancement program revealed from this study, it may be the time to re-evaluate the potential integration of a holistic cod restocking program within Norwegian coastal zone management.