A Multiregional Approach for Estimating the Economic Impact of Harvest Restrictions on Saltwater Sportfishing

Abstract

Previous economic impact studies associated with recreational fishing have used models that ignore impacts occurring outside of the modeled region. This study develops a multiregional computable general equilibrium (MRCGE) model to evaluate the economic effects across multiple regions resulting from changing limits on sport anglers’ harvest of several important species in Alaska. Fishing participation changes arising due to changes in the limits are predicted from a stated-preference model. Next, an MRCGE model is used to estimate the economic effects in Alaska, the U.S. West Coast, and rest of the United States. By accounting for the economic linkages among the three regions, this study shows the importance of multiregional approaches for more accurately measuring economic impacts even when fishery managers may only be concerned about the economic, social, and biological effects occurring in the primary region.

Received January 25, 2017; accepted June 16, 2017 Published online September 5, 2017

Acknowledgments

We thank Jerry Leonard at the NOAA–NWFSC for providing regional economic data for Pacific coast fisheries, and we thank Ron Felthoven, Steve Kasperski, and Ben Fissel for helpful comments. We are grateful to the editors and three anonymous referees for their valuable comments. All remaining errors are the authors’. The findings and conclusions in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.