Estimating changes in values for recreation in the Capricorn Coast region of the Great Barrier Reef

The main aim of this research was to estimate values for recreation in the Great Barrier Reef, and to identify how these values changed with changes in site quality. This was achieved in two stages in a case study analysis of recreation in the Capricorn Coast region. First, travel cost and contingent valuation methods were used to estimate the value of two recreational activities, fishing and beach use. Second, changes in recreation values due to changes in water quality and other relevant issues were estimated using contingent behaviour models. The approach undertaken in the study involved the parallel applications of the travel cost, contingent valuation and contingent behaviour models to two distinct recreational activities – recreational fishing and recreational beach use. Results indicate that there are high values associated with both the recreational fishing and recreational beach use activities along the Capricorn Coast, and that the demand for recreational fishing and recreational beach use were inelastic. Results also indicated that values for recreational fishing were insensitive to changes in catch rates while the values recreational beach use for all three user groups were insensitive to changes in water quality. The major contribution of this study is that it provides a comprehensive economic analysis of recreational activities in the GBRMP. The study is unique because it is one of the first to estimate recreational use values for recreational fishing the GBRMP and the first identified to value recreational beach use in the GBRMP. It is also one of the first studies in Australia to apply the contingent behaviour method to recreation and to estimate marginal values for potential changes in water quality and population pressures. The study also examines several important methodological issues such as testing the use of subjective and researcher estimated costs with the TCM; testing for convergent validity between the TCM and the CVM, testing for symmetry in responses to improvements and declines in resources; and if responses vary across and within stakeholder groups. Policy contributions include the generation of recreation values in the GBRMP, the estimation of marginal values associated with different future scenarios, and the estimation of values associated with beach use.