What value does the public put on managing and protecting an endangered marine species? The case of the finless porpoise in South Korea

Abstract

In South Korea, the finless porpoise (FP) is one of representative endangered marine species. The country is trying to manage and protect FPs through several costly measures and demands information about what value the public puts on the management and protection. This article, therefore, explores the South Korean public perspective on managing and protecting FP using a contingent valuation (CV) technique. More specifically, the data on the public willingness to pay (WTP) for the management and protection were collected from a CV survey of 1000 households across the country, adopting a dichotomous choice question format. The household yearly WTP for the management and protection was estimated, with statistical significance, to be 2730 KRW (2.32 USD). If this value is expanded to all households in South Korea, the national value amounts to 54.19 billion KRW (46.00 million USD) per annum. This can be interpreted as the economic value or benefit of managing and protecting FP.