Recreation benefits from water pollution control

A methodology for estimating direct recreational benefits from water pollution control was developed through a model of biological and behavioral relationships involved in sports angling. A biological production function was envisaged between inputs of angling effort and the output, or yield, of fish taken. The marginal product, angling success per unit of effort, was taken to represent the ‘quality’ of the recreational experience. Water pollution would cause deteriorations in dissolved oxygen, temperature, or toxicity characteristics of the water, thus shifting the production function downward and causing reductions in angling success, angling effort, and recreational value of the fishery. Demand equations and ‘success-effort’ elasticities were estimated for three estuarial sports fisheries, and the methodology was illustrated by means of an assumed reduction in angling success. The direct recreational benefits were identified as the consumer surplus that would result from the prevention of water pollution. (Key words: Economics; quality of water; recreation.)