Economic valuation of sport fisheries in Los Cabos, Baja California sur, Mexico

Abstract

Sport fishing is one of the main tourist attractions in Baja California Sur (BCS), with a multiplier effect with impacts on three sectors of its economy. There is, however, a growing confrontation between those interests that represent the sport fishing sector, and those involved in commercial fisheries, whose activities often include the capture of species reserved for the former, either by means of permits or "accidentally." In addition, before the research which is reported in this paper, there was no methodologically sound estimate of the economic value of sport fisheries. This was estimated by the cost of travel method, which attempts to determine the number of journeys/visits to a given recreational site per period of time, usually a year. This involved the application of a survey (220 questionnaires, of which 133 were usable) in the area of Cabo del Este, BCS, in order to generate the data needed to estimate the relevant demand function (number of visits as a function of travel cost), its inverse, and average and total consumer's surplus. Using information available at the Los Cabos municipality, which gives the figure of 40,000 sport fishing visitors per year, we estimate the economic value of this activity in that area at about US $72 million. © 2011 WIT Press.