Abstract

In recent studies, The Billfish Foundation highlighted the large benefits generated from billfish sportfishing on coastal communities. In the Los Cabos region of Mexico and in Costa Rica the sportfishing industry was estimated to generate an annual economic impacts of $1.125 billion USD and $599 million, respectively. These studies also found that the willingness to pay (WTP) was directly related to an angler’s fishing experience and the number of fish they expected to release—essentially a greater catch per unit effort (CPUE). The greater the WTP of anglers targeting billfish reflects that more intrinsic value is placed upon the fishery by anglers. Data from TBF’s Tag & Release Program, the largest private billfish tagging database in the world, was utilized to forecast the effort, economic impacts, and the willingness to pay of billfish anglers from Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Tag and release data from Isla Mujeres found that anglers released 4,608 Atlantic sailfish between 1990 and 2011. Spatial analysis was used to look at the release distribution of sailfish and the migration patterns of tagged and recaptured sailfish from Isla Mujeres. Discrete Choice Experiments of anglers who fished in Isla Mujeres revealed that the WTP to release an additional sailfish was $89.41 USD. Preliminary local expenditure was estimated to be $421.30 USD per day by anglers sailfishing in Isla Mujeres. An estimation of anglers’ value generated from the fishery in Isla Mujeres provides both fisheries and tourism officials a basis for understanding the intercorrelation between healthy billfish stocks and potential economic benefits.