Applying Principles from Economics to Improve the Transfer of Ecological Production Estimates in Fisheries Ecosystem Services Research

• Main Author: Errend, Melissa
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade
• Subjects: Fisheries > Economic aspects > Congresses; Sustainable fisheries > Congresses; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/conference_proceedings_or_journals/fq977v85g

Ecosystem services (ES) provide a pathway to connect ecosystem processes to human well-being. Ecosystem-based fisheries management can utilize the ecosystem service framework to assess trade-offs of actions such as restoration and gear restrictions, or environmental changes such as ocean acidification and warming, and sea level rise. However, due to a lack of existing data, time, or funding, estimates of ecological production may need to be transferred from different geographic, temporal, or spatial scales to a data-poor site. While production estimate transfer represents a useful tool for research, policy, and resource management, inconsistency and a lack of transparency in how transfers are performed may increase uncertainty in the accuracy of the final estimate. Associated uncertainties then can propagate as error through to the economic value of the ES. While methodologies exist to transfer the economic value of ES (e.g., benefit transfer), there is no analogous formalized process to transfer ecological data underlying ES production. Drawing from the benefit transfer literature, we present a framework to improve the transparency and accuracy of transferred ecological and biophysical data that underpin estimates of ES production for coastal ecosystems with examples from studies and models of habitat-fishery linkages. Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Environment: Valuation, Modelling and Management