The value of the trout fishery at Rhodes, North Eastern Cape, South Africa: a travel cost analysis using count data models

Abstract

Recent government legislation in South Africa (the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No.10 of 2004) calls for the removal of trout from ecosystems and habitats where they may cause harm. The elimination of trout would, however, undermine the tourism appeal of many upper catchments in South Africa to recreational fishers. This paper reports the first formal recreational valuation of a trout fishery in South Africa – the one in and around Rhodes village, North Eastern Cape. The valuation is carried out by applying the individual travel cost method using several count data models. The zero truncated negative binomial model which allows for the non-negative integer nature of the trip data, for truncation as well as for over-dispersion, found that the consumer surplus per day and per trip to the Rhodes trout fishery was ZAR2 668 (US$334) and ZAR13,072 (US$1634), respectively in the year 2007, and the total consumer surplus generated was ZAR18,026,288 (US$2 253,286).

Keywords:

• trout
• South Africa
• travel cost method
• count data
• recreational value

Acknowledgements

The advice and comments of anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to thank all who agreed to be interviewed. All those who were interviewed were informed that their answers would be treated as confidential and the information would only be used for research purposes. The questionnaire was anonymous. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the comments made by an anonymous referee from ERSA.

Notes

1. To date, the costs associated with the negative biodiversity impacts of trout have not been estimated in South Africa.

2. At an exchange rate of ZAR8 = $1. Purchasing power parity does not, however, hold in the Rand-Dollar exchange rate. This is mainly due to three reasons: first, the market baskets differ between South Africa and the USA; second, natural and man-made barriers to the movement of goods between the two countries exist; finally, there are a large number of goods that are not traded between these two countries.

3. An anonymous referee suggested that trout fishing (as opposed to coarse fishing) is a sport carrying a positive social cachet, making it more likely to be a normal good.