Abstract

As coastal resources come under greater pressure with increasing numbers of users, land development, industrial growth, tourism, and other competing interests, managers must consider the ramifications of making trade-offs in their planning decisions. Valuation of natural resources is necessary to substantiate these decisions and allocations. Due to the lack of a direct market for sport fishing experiences, indirect methods for resource valuation have been derived. In this paper we used the travel cost method (TCM) to value the recreational boat fishery in Galveston Bay. Using fishing pressure estimates for the Galveston Bay recreational boat fishery with an estimate of angler willingness to pay above fishing trip costs (consumer surplus), we calculated the total annual economic value of the recreational boat fishery to range between $25.4 million and $28.4 million. Discussion focused on the importance and management implications for this and other such studies.

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