Monetary valuation of recreational fishing in a restored estuary and implications for future management measures

Recreational fishing is considered a cultural ecosystem service, important in terms of the socio-economic benefits that it provides. In the Nerbioi estuary (northern Spain), investments in water treatment and the closure of polluting industries have led to several benefits such as improvements in water quality, fish abundance and richness, and recreational fishing activity. Currently, this activity is performed along the whole estuary including areas that previously were severely polluted. Valuing the benefits of recreational fishing is crucial to support the management of the estuary. The economic valuation is performed using a multi-site travel cost analysis. In addition, the effect on welfare measures of future scenarios where environmental conditions and accessibility change is analysed. Results indicate that each recreational trip in Nerbioi has a use value of 14.98€, with an aggregate value of 1.12 M€year−1 for the whole recreational fishers’ community. The simulated scenarios suggest that further environmental improvements would have a positive effect in the activity, increasing the current welfare by 7.5–11.5%. In contrast, worsening of environmental conditions and accessibility could translate into a welfare reduction up to 71%. The monetary use value of recreational fishing partially covers (4.7%) the costs of maintaining the environmental quality of the estuary.