AFSC/REFM: Steller sea lion economic survey data, U.S., 2007, Lew

The project will produce a valuation function that depends on factors related to Steller sea lion (SSL) protection measures, and may include some combination of the expected aggregate size of the population and improvements to the ESA listing status resulting from protection measures, cost of the protection measures, and effects of protection measures on local economies, fishery participants, and consumer fish prices. This function can be used to identify non-consumptive use values for SSLs and how these values are affected by protection measures, thereby providing valuable information to policy makers.

Steller sea lions live in the North Pacific Ocean and consist of two distinct populations, the western and eastern, which are separated at 144 West longitude. As a result of large declines in the populations since at least the early 1970s, in April 1990 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed the Steller sea lion (SSL) as threatened rangewide under the Endangered Species Act. The decline continued for the western population in Alaska, which was declared endangered in 1997. The eastern population remains listed as threatened.

Multiple management actions have been taken, and are being contemplated, to protect and aid the recovery of the Steller sea lion populations and to balance these goals with providing for sustainable and economically viable fisheries under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) is conducting wide ranging research to evaluate the causes of population declines and management options. This project, which focuses on understanding public preferences and values for impacts from alternative resource management options, is part of this larger research effort.

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The following FGDC sections are not currently supported in InPort, but were preserved and will be included in the FGDC export:

- Taxonomy (FGDC:taxonomy)

- Lineage (FGDC:lineage)

Lew, D. K., Layton, D. F., & Rowe, R. D. (2010). Valuing enhancements to endangered species protection under alternative baseline futures: the case of the Steller sea lion. Marine Resource Economics, 25(2), 133-154. https://doi.org/10.5950/0738-1360-25.2.133

Sanchirico, J. N., Lew, D. K., Haynie, A. C., Kling, D. M., & Layton, D. F. (2013). Conservation values in marine ecosystem-based management. Marine Policy, 38, 523-530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2012.08.008

The economic benefits of providing protection to the endangered Western population of Steller sea lions are primarily the result of the non-consumptive value individuals attribute to such protection. Since these values are not observed in a market, economists have developed specialized techniques to estimate them. The objective of this project is to use state-of-the-art survey, sampling and statistical techniques to estimate the value that U.S. citizens place on providing protection to Steller sea lions. This information is important for the conservation and management of marine resources, but is currently not available.

UC Davis

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The data set is still being analyzed and will not be available for distribution until it has been finalized and all QA/QC practices have been performed. Contact the Point Of Contact for estimated time of release.

User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. Acknowledgement of NOAA/NMFS/AFSC, as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these, data is suggested.

Excel

Reponse rate for mail survey was 62 percent. Response rate for phone survey was 48 percent.

After data collection was completed, the data was cleaned and checked for inconsistencies

See process step.

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Archival site needed for confidential data.

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