Economic Benefits of the South Berry Islands Marine Reserve

Abstract

We conducted a research study of the economic benefits (and costs) of the South Berry Island Marine Reserve to inform ongoing management planning for the reserve. 'Our approach combined market, non-market, and non-use valuation methods, and utilized both primary data collection and value transfer from existing sources of information'. The economic results of the research can be broken into two main categories. First, there are the current benefits to stakeholders from the habitats and species of the marine environment of the South Berry Islands. Second, there are the specific projected benefits (and costs) to stakeholders because of changes from active management of the reserve in their use of these habitats and species.