Valuing Angling on Reservoirs Using Benefit Transfer

Economic assessments are rarely applied to inland recreational fisheries for management purposes, especially when compared to fish, habitat, and creel assessments, yet economic assessments can provide critical information for management decisions. Authors provide a brief overview of economic value, key terminology, and existing economic techniques to address these issues. Benefit transfer, a technique used to measure economic value when an original analysis is not practicable, is conducted by drawing on existing estimates of economic value in similar contexts. Authors describe an application of benefit transfer to measure the economic value of several recreational fisheries in Nebraska, USA. They examine two approaches to benefit transfer—value transfer and function transfer—which they demonstrate estimate similar economic values for fishing site access but substantially different economic values for catch rate improvements at some reservoirs. Authors encourage agencies that are responsible for inland recreational fisheries management to consider economic assessment, especially benefit transfer, as a critical tool in the management toolbox.