Angler Heterogeneity and the Species-Specific Demand for Marine Recreational Fishing

作者：Haab Timothy^*; Hicks Robert; Schnier Kurt; Whitehead John C

来源：Marine Resource Economics, 2012, 27(3): 229-251.

DOI：10.5950/0738-1360-27.3.229

• Marine recreational fishing
• single-species demand
• preference heterogeneity models

In this study we assess the ability of the Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey (MRFSS) to support single-species recreation demand models. We use the 2000 MRFSS southeast intercept data combined with the economic add-on. We determine that the MRFSS data will support only a Jew species-specific recreation demand models. Considering species of management interest in the Southeast, we focus on dolphinfish, king mackerel, red snapper and red drum. We examine single-species recreational fishing behavior using random utility models of demand. We explore mixed logit (i.e., random parameter logit) and finite mixture (i.e., latent class logit) models for dealing with angler heterogeneity We compare these to the commonly used conditional and nested logit models in terms of the value of catching (and keeping) one additional fish. Mixed logit models illustrate that the value of catch can be highly heterogeneous and, in some cases, can include both positive and negative values. The finite mixture model generates value estimates that were sometimes strikingly different than conditional, nested, and mixed logit models. Preference heterogeneity is significant within the MRFSS data. We find evidence that single-species models out-perform multiple-species models and recreational values differ.

• 出版日期2012