Valuing Coastal Habitat–Fishery Linkages under Regulated Open Access

Edward B Barbier

doi:10.3390/w11040847

Abstract

This paper explores how regulation of an open access fishery influences the value of a coastal habitat that serves as breeding and nursery grounds. A model of the fishery supported by a coastal wetland is developed, which includes a quota rule that restricts harvest to a fixed proportion of the current stock. The model is applied to mangrove-dependent shellfish and demersal fisheries in Thailand. The value of the welfare effects associated with a change in a supporting coastal habitat is influenced significantly by whether or not the regulatory quota can adjust in response to these changes. Welfare losses are considerably higher when the quota is fixed as opposed to when it can be adjusted. With the restriction in place, effort cannot change to offset the decline in biomass, and as a result, there is a much larger fall in harvest. In addition, the welfare losses are much larger for the shellfish compared to the demersal fisheries. The analysis illustrates that imposing a regulatory rule on an open access fishery has important implications for valuing any linkage between coastal breeding and nursery habitat and a near-shore fishery.

Highlights

Estuarine and coastal ecosystems worldwide provide a wide variety of important and valuable ecosystem services, from providing food and raw materials to protecting against storms, flooding and coastal erosion, to providing habitat for marine species and biodiversity [1,2,3]
If an open access fishery is more heavily exploited in the long run, the subsequent economic losses associated with the destruction of natural habitat supporting this fishery are likely to be lower
The model simulation applied to the demersal fishery suggests a regulatory quota of about 11.5%

Summary

Introduction

Estuarine and coastal ecosystems worldwide provide a wide variety of important and valuable ecosystem services, from providing food and raw materials to protecting against storms, flooding and coastal erosion, to providing habitat for marine species and biodiversity [1,2,3]. An important benefit of many estuarine and coastal ecosystems is their role in providing breeding and nursery habitats that support near-shore fisheries. This has resulted in the development of bioeconomic models to capture this effect and value coastal-habitat linkages (see [1,4] for reviews). Beginning with [5], studies have shown that the values estimated for improved coastal and marine habitat quality for fisheries, whether through protection of the nursery and breeding habitat service of coastal wetlands or reduction of nutrient pollution, vary with open access versus optimal management conditions [5,6,7,8]. One should be cautious about basing coastal development decisions solely on single services such as habitat-fishery linkages when open access conditions may distort the impact of conserving coastal wetlands on increased fishery production and returns

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Conclusion