Sea, the Value: Quantifying the value of marine life to divers

Abstract

Contemporary wildlife conservation is often promoted through market-mechanisms. The logic behind this approach is that wildlife must ‘pay its way’ if it is to be conserved. While this approach can be critiqued from a variety of perspectives, considerable investment has been made in finding ways to create markets for wildlife conservation. From a methods perspective, assessments of willingness to pay, using contingent valuation surveys, have become widely used to determine whether or not various values for wildlife can be translated into market values, and thus into economic arguments for their conservation. This study assesses respondent views of the role of divers in marine conservation and examines willingness to pay among certified U.S. scuba divers for particular wildlife encounters while diving.