ESTIMATING DEMAND FOR RECREATIONAL FISHING IN ALABAMA USING TRAVEL COST MODEL

Individuals and households reveal their willingness to pay to enjoy environmental and natural resource services by engaging in outdoor recreation activities. The state of Alabama and the Black-Belt region possess significant recreational fishing resources whose qualities could be improved through public and private management innovations. To measure the value of such interventions, a baseline estimate of recreational fishing demand and potential for increasing the demand by on-site improvements needs to established. Using direct mail survey, count data obtained on individual angler characteristics, expenditures on fishing equipment, and destinations and expenditures on time and travel for each trip taken. In addition, the kinds and quantities of fish that anglers sought on each trip were obtained. This paper employs a full a full economic analysis based on recreation demand models—a.k.a. Travel Cost models (TCM). The travel costs’ Negative Binomial regression reveals that the average number of fishing days demanded is 33.17days, while other demographic and site characteristics have varying effects on the number of fishing days demanded.