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Deep-water corals are slow growing, fragile and vulnerable to the impacts of deep-water fisheries and the development activities of the offshore industries. In Ireland there is now evidence of major damage to deep-water corals linked to a recent expansion of the Irish deep-water fishery. This fishery uses trawls fitted with robust rock hopping gear and employs a high risk fishing technique, which is potentially very destructive to coral habitats. Consequently resource managers have been exploring the potential of marine protected areas (MPA) as a tool for the conservation of these coral ecosystems in the North East Atlantic. MPAs aim to minimise the socio-economic costs associated with closures or other management restrictions while still achieving the desired conservation objectives. However, the decision to use MPAs (and thereby restrict fishing) is often taken in the light of uncertainty over the value of the reserved habitats to the fishing industry. This paper reports on a choice experiment study carried out in Ireland in early 2007 aimed at partly addressing this uncertainty. The study primarily focused on determining the economic value held by the Irish public for the conservation of deep-sea corals using several variants of the concept of MPAs. They have endorsed MPA strategies that banned trawling in an MPA that included all areas where corals are thought to exist with no personal tax imposed, banned trawling in an MPA covering all known corals with a personal tax imposed of €1 p.a. and banned all fishing in an MPA covering all areas where corals are thought to exist with a personal tax imposed of €1 p.a. In terms of the probabilities attached to the individual attributes, the most preferred policy options were to ban trawling, protect all areas where corals are thought to exist, and pay a ring-fenced personal tax of €1 p.a.
P. Wattage; H. Glenn; S. Mardle; T. Van Rensburg; Anthony Grehan; N. Foley. Economic value of conserving deep-sea corals in Irish waters: A choice experiment study on marine protected areas. Fisheries Research 2011, 107, 59 -67.
AMA StyleP. Wattage, H. Glenn, S. Mardle, T. Van Rensburg, Anthony Grehan, N. Foley. Economic value of conserving deep-sea corals in Irish waters: A choice experiment study on marine protected areas. Fisheries Research. 2011; 107 (1-3):59-67.
Chicago/Turabian StyleP. Wattage; H. Glenn; S. Mardle; T. Van Rensburg; Anthony Grehan; N. Foley. 2011. "Economic value of conserving deep-sea corals in Irish waters: A choice experiment study on marine protected areas." Fisheries Research 107, no. 1-3: 59-67.
In tropical regions, mangroves, clean (unpolluted) water-bodies and fish are important aspects of wetland areas, which are considered as the basic requirement for livelihood improvement in local communities. Particularly, their conservation is very important to both inland as well as inshore fisheries. However, conservation of such areas is dependent on the perceptions of key stakeholders in the area. A novel approach of a one and one-half bound based contingent valuation method (CVM) was implemented to measure the stakeholder willingness to pay (WTP) towards the conservation of fish, mangroves and water in a Sri Lankan wetland area. Estimated median WTP is Rs. 264.26, which is thought reliable when considering average income in the community. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to separate use and non-use values from the total value. Results show that non-use values are a significant component in the elicited WTP value, of between 45-55%. In the past such commodities have been assigned zero or low values due to difficulties involved in assigning economic values.
Premachandra Wattage; Simon Mardle. Total economic value of wetland conservation in Sri Lanka identifying use and non-use values. Wetlands Ecology and Management 2007, 16, 359 -369.
AMA StylePremachandra Wattage, Simon Mardle. Total economic value of wetland conservation in Sri Lanka identifying use and non-use values. Wetlands Ecology and Management. 2007; 16 (5):359-369.
Chicago/Turabian StylePremachandra Wattage; Simon Mardle. 2007. "Total economic value of wetland conservation in Sri Lanka identifying use and non-use values." Wetlands Ecology and Management 16, no. 5: 359-369.
In determining the importance of criteria in the management of wetlands, two key issues arise: that is whether they should be conserved for environmental benefits, or whether they should be used for development activities. This is indeed the conflict faced in many natural resource management problems. This paper considers the development of stakeholder preferences in a region in Sri Lanka for representative criteria based on defined objectives for wetland management. Data were obtained spatially from a paired comparison based survey using the analytic hierarchy process to investigate the importance attached to the criteria by stakeholders who live and work in the wetland region. Distinct groups showing different concerns towards importance of objectives are shown to exist over the whole area and spatially. However, the consensus view of favouring conservation of the environment is indicated by 80% of the sample.
Premachandra Wattage; Simon Mardle. Stakeholder preferences towards conservation versus development for a wetland in Sri Lanka. Journal of Environmental Management 2005, 77, 122 -132.
AMA StylePremachandra Wattage, Simon Mardle. Stakeholder preferences towards conservation versus development for a wetland in Sri Lanka. Journal of Environmental Management. 2005; 77 (2):122-132.
Chicago/Turabian StylePremachandra Wattage; Simon Mardle. 2005. "Stakeholder preferences towards conservation versus development for a wetland in Sri Lanka." Journal of Environmental Management 77, no. 2: 122-132.
A major difficulty of conventional cost benefit analysis is that it will allow choosing an alternative among others only on the criterion of economic efficiency: that the selected project or activity has been proven to produce economic benefits over costs for the period of the project. An analysis of this kind generally does not create a problem if the costs and benefits series are easy to quantify and clearly identifiable. However, almost all projects linked with the environment are clear exceptions to this category. Many environmental projects are facing a difficulty of evaluating the success based on economic efficiency due to two reasons: (a) environmental benefits are difficult to quantify and (b) environmental interactions that will cause severe externalities are difficult to predict. The main objective of this paper is to suggest a new method that can be used to overcome such difficulties in environmental projects. Data used in this analysis will demonstrate a practical approach to evaluate environmental projects. The evaluation proposed is different to traditional analysis in that it has been based on a large programme of primary research and has included efforts to achieve a consensus of all stakeholders, including those directly involved in project implementation.
Premachandra Wattage; John Soussan. Incorporating Environmental Value and Externality in Project Evaluation as a Sustainability Indicator to evaluate Bangladesh Water Development. Water Resources Management 2003, 17, 429 -446.
AMA StylePremachandra Wattage, John Soussan. Incorporating Environmental Value and Externality in Project Evaluation as a Sustainability Indicator to evaluate Bangladesh Water Development. Water Resources Management. 2003; 17 (6):429-446.
Chicago/Turabian StylePremachandra Wattage; John Soussan. 2003. "Incorporating Environmental Value and Externality in Project Evaluation as a Sustainability Indicator to evaluate Bangladesh Water Development." Water Resources Management 17, no. 6: 429-446.