[Coral-List] new report on the value of sharks for tourism

[Douglas Fenner]

A new study of the economic value of shark dive tourism for Palau has been released.

The summary statements include:
	* The estimated annual value to the tourism industry of  an individual reef shark that frequents these sites was US$179,000, or  US$1.9 million over its lifetime; 
	* Shark diving brings approximately US$18 million  annually to the Palauan economy, approximately eight percent of the  country’s gross domestic product;
	* The annual income in salaries paid by the  shark-diving industry was an estimated US$1.2 million; and
	* The annual tax income to Palau generated by shark  diving was approximately 14 percent of the country’s business tax  revenue

A fishery targeting the same 100 sharks that are interacting with the tourism industry in Palau would obtain a maximum of US$10,800, or 0.00006% of the life-time value of these animals as a non-consumptive resource.
The tax revenues collected from shark diving were roughly 24 times higher than those from the fishing industry.


Media releases (the two have the same text):

http://www.aims.gov.au/docs/media/news2011/20110502.html

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/05/03/reef-sharks-generate-millions-of-tourist-dollars-for-palau/

The full paper can be downloaded free at

http://www.pewenvironment.org/uploadedFiles/PEG/Publications/Report/Palau_Shark_Tourism.pdf



 
Douglas Fenner
Coral Reef Monitoring Ecologist
Dept Marine & Wildlife Resources
American Samoa


Mailing address:
PO Box 3730
Pago Pago, AS 96799
USA


work phone 684  633 4456


Report sees sharper sea rise from Arctic melt.


The ice of Greenland and the rest of the Arctic is melting faster than expected and could help raise global sea levels by as much as 5 feet this century, dramatically higher than earlier projections, an authoritative international assessment says.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110503/ap_on_sc/eu_arctic_climate_change#mwpphu-container


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