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Florida’s Coastal Environmental Resources: A Guide to Economic Valuation and Impact Analysis. Washington, DC: NOAA/Office of Policy and Strategic Planning.
... Therefore, understanding the economic value of marine sanctuaries is not only important to justify public and private investments and to provide information to support management activities [7], but understanding their overall contribution to the ocean economy is important to secure adequate funding for their sustainable management. In addition, marine sanctuary resources are economic resources that are scarce and have competing uses; thus, determining value can inform policy makers and other management decision makers of the tradeoffs of alternative uses or economic importance of different choices [8]. There are different methods available to determine the value of natural and environmental resources (e.g., marine sanctuaries), including cost-benefit analysis (CBA), economic impact analysis/contribution analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and natural resource damage assessment. ...
Understanding the economic value of marine sanctuaries such as the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is important to justify public and private investments and to provide
information to support management activities and understand their role in the nation’s blue economy.
Very few studies have employed economic contribution analysis in examining economic value, even
though it is more useful in influencing the behaviors of decision makers. This study therefore employs
such a methodology to determine the economic importance of tourism and visitor spending in the
sanctuary to Monroe County, Florida’s economy. Visitors who came to the area for ocean recreation
and tourism spent a total of USD 1.7 billion, which translates to a contribution of 19,688 total jobs,
USD 752 million in total labor income, USD 1.2 billion in total value added, and USD 2 billion in total
output to the region. With regard to the spending of snorkelers and divers only, total spending is
about USD 1.07 billion, contributing about 12,441 total jobs, USD 466 million in total labor income,
USD 767 million in total value added, and USD 1.2 billion in total output. Ocean recreation is therefore
an important economic driver in the region and efforts should be directed at protecting the diverse
and sensitive ecosystem of the sanctuary.
... Because many marine resource uses are not traded in markets, their values cannot be measured in traditional ways ( Letson and Milon, 2006). For example, a proposed housing development that could damage the ecological integrity of wetlands might indirectly hurt recreational and commercial fi shing as well. ...
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