Stated preference methods for environmental management : recreational summer flounder angling in the northeastern United States

Hicks, Robert L.

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Stated preference methods for environmental management : recreational summer flounder angling in the northeastern United States

Hicks, Robert L.

Abstract

Environmental managers are becoming increasingly aware that environmental policies must be crafted in a way that incorporates the human dimensions of the ecosystem. Failure to incorporate stakeholder preferences into management measures can lead to policies that fail because people’s preferences, motivations, and behavior concerning their use of the environment were not properly considered even if defensible natural science approaches were incorporated in the management decision. In this paper, we present a new method for quantifying angler preferences for fisheries management. The method, called the Stated Preference Discrete Choice Technique (SPDC) (Louviere et. al) is a particular form of conjoint analysis, which has broad application to measuring preferences for all sorts of goods including both market and non- market goods. The method has been used applied in a wide variety of settings (for example, appliance choice (Ben-Akiva et al.), yogurt (Guadagni et al.), and light-rail transportation (Preston), and environmental valuation (Adamowicz et al.)). For resource managers, the method provides useful information about new policies, non-observable ranges for management tools, and policies having multiple attributes.