Public perspective on increasing the numbers of an endangered species, loggerhead turtles in South Korea: A contingent valuation

Abstract

The loggerhead turtle is one of the representative endangered marine species in South Korea. Thus, the country's government is trying to push ahead with a project to increase the number of loggerhead turtles through the research and development of technology to hatch them artificially and release them into the wild. This article attempts to investigate the public perspective on the project using contingent valuation (CV). To this end, a CV survey of one thousand households across the country was implemented using in-person interviews. They were asked whether they were willing to pay a specified amount presented for carrying out the project. As many households reported zero willingness to pay, a spike model was employed to analyze the response data. It was found that the yearly public value ensuing from accomplishing the project was statistically significantly computed to be KRW2360 (USD 1.99) per household. When the value was expanded nationwide, it reached KRW 44.72 billion (USD 37.74 million) per year. This public value could be compared with the cost of carrying out the project to determine if the project is socially beneficial.