Political economy of marine reserves: Understanding the role of opportunity costs

The creation of marine reserves is often controversial. For decisionmakers, trying to find compromises, an understanding of the timing, magnitude, and incidence of the costs of a reserve is critical. Understanding the costs, in turn, requires consideration of not just the direct financial costs but...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 107; no. 43; pp. 18300 - 18305
Main Authors Smith, Martin D., Lynham, John, Sanchirico, James N., Wilson, James A., Gaines, Steven D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 26.10.2010
National Acad Sciences
SeriesMarine Reserves Special Feature
Subjects
Animals
Commercial fishing
Common fisheries policy
Conservation of Natural Resources - economics
Costs and Cost Analysis
Decision making models
Ecological modeling
Economic models
Ecosystem
Fisheries
Fisheries - economics
Fisheries management
Fishers
Fishery economics
Fishes
Humans
Marine
Marine Biology - economics
MARINE RESERVES SPECIAL FEATURE
Models, Economic
Ocean fisheries
Opportunity costs
Political economy
Politics
Population Dynamics
Social Sciences
Sustainable fisheries management
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The creation of marine reserves is often controversial. For decisionmakers, trying to find compromises, an understanding of the timing, magnitude, and incidence of the costs of a reserve is critical. Understanding the costs, in turn, requires consideration of not just the direct financial costs but also the opportunity costs associated with reserves. We use a discrete choice model of commercial fishermen’s behavior to examine both the short-run and long-run opportunity costs of marine reserves. Our results can help policymakers recognize the factors influencing commercial fishermen’s responses to reserve proposals. More generally, we highlight the potential drivers behind the political economy of marine reserves.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Author contributions: M.D.S., J.L., J.N.S., and J.A.W. designed research; M.D.S., J.L., and J.N.S. performed research; M.D.S., J.L., and J.N.S. analyzed data; and M.D.S., J.L., J.N.S., and J.A.W. wrote the paper.
Edited by Steven D. Gaines, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, and accepted by the Editorial Board December 9, 2009 (received for review July 7, 2009)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0907365107