Re-evaluating the Preferences of Recreational Gulf of Maine Cod and Haddock Anglers

Since 2013, fisheries managers have used a bioeconomic model to simulate the effect of proposed regulations on angler participation and subsequent fishing mortality for Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod and haddock using data from a choice experiment survey. In the year following the last choice experiment survey, however, Gulf of Maine cod fishery experienced unprecedented regulatory changes that, to this day, considerably limit recreational harvest. Given the potential influence of these regulatory changes on angler targeting behavior and preferences, we administered a new choice experiment survey in 2019. The new survey instrument and the sampling method were updated relative to the previous data collection effort to incorporate contemporary best-practice recommendations. In this paper, we estimate a panel mixed logit model using the new survey data to re-evaluate angler preferences for fishing trip attributes, results of which will parameterize the bioeconomic simulation model. We find that anglers value keeping cod more highly than keeping haddock, which is in contrast to the preference rankings elicited from the previously collected choice experiment data. These findings highlight the importance of collecting and analyzing updated data for policy analysis. We also test for attribute non-attendance, one type of behavioral anomaly that can occur in choice experiments and lead to biased preference parameter estimation. While many respondents indicated having not attended to one or more attributes, the econometric results suggest that some ignored attributes significantly affected choice behavior, which indicates a need to collect more informative non-attendance information in future data collection efforts.