Balancing conservation and commerce: A shadow value viability approach for governing bycatch

Pierce Donovan and Michael Springborn

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2022, vol. 114, issue C

Abstract: The losses from extinction events are not well-known, making an expected net benefits approach to conservation problems difficult to implement. A viable control strategy instead focuses on limiting the risk of extinction to some acceptably low level at the least possible cost. Here we describe a shadow value viability approach for solving conservation problems with irreversible thresholds with dynamic programming. A social planner calculates the minimal (virtual) level of loss from extinction that would trigger sufficient action to avoid extinction with the desired confidence. The cost-effective policy then arises from acting as if the resulting shadow value is real. We demonstrate the method in a numerical application to the conservation of the Pacific leatherback turtle population, which co-mingles with the Pacific swordfish fishery. We show how the cost-effective outcome can be achieved among decentralized fishers by using the planner’s shadow value to set market-based instruments for managing turtle bycatch. This approach translates the species viability objective into economic terms so conservation and commercial harvest can be rationally integrated.

Keywords: Viable control; Dynamic programming methods; Shadow valuation; Catastrophes; Thresholds; Bioeconomics; Conservation; Bycatch; Market-based instruments; Multi-species fisheries management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C6 Q2 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069622000572
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:114:y:2022:i:c:s0095069622000572

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102689

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates

More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().