An economic assessment of inland fisheries management schemes

In France, angling societies are, under the supervision of the government, generally in charge of inland fisheries management. The National Council of Fishing has developed a series of guidelines to design management schemes which favour natural reproduction processes and the preservation of wild fish stocks. They rely on habitat protection and ecosystem restoration programmes involving public expenditures whose profitability has to be assessed. This leads to estimate the value of wild fish (born in the natural environment from parents wild fish themselves). This value integrates two main components, an use value which is derived from angling and a non use value which stems from the existence of wild fish and concerns a broader population than the anglers one. Potential benefits stemming from the existence of wild fish populations are estimated using the contingent valuation method. Empirical results are based on a sample of 1 629 anglers who participated in a mail survey. Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) for wild fish increases with income, cost of equipment and trip distance. Other things being equal, those preferring fish such as pike and trout (reference species of the study), and those preferring to angle wild fish are likely to pay an additional amount. Mean WTP ranges from FF 50 to FF 100 per year, depending on model specification. This money amount is associated with the concept of total value which includes a use and a non use component. Some anglers are willing to pay but are not interested in fishing wild fish. For these people, WTP states a non use value and is associated with the existence of wild fish. The corresponding amount is estimated to be between FF 20 and FF 50. A straightforward calculation shows that anglers' potential benefits are of the same magnitude than the operating costs associated to management schemes.