External Costs of Aquaculture Production in West Virginia

Smearman, S.C. and D'souza, G.E. and Norton, V.J. (1997) External Costs of Aquaculture Production in West Virginia. Environmental and Resource Economics, 10 (2). pp. 167-175.

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Abstract

Temperate hill-lands of the U.S.A. such as those in West Virginia are areas from which increasing output of farm-raised fish may be possible. However, the downstream economic impacts of current and projected future effluent as a result of aquaculture production have not been extensively studied. Using an externality framework and a combination of primary and secondary data, this study determines pollution prevention costs (PPC), and downstream pollution damage costs resulting from fish farm wastewater effluent measured as willingness to pay (WTP) for restoring water quality. PPC is estimated at $0.11 per kg of trout produced (which would add 6% to private production cost), and WTP is estimated at $011perkgoftroutproduced(whichwouldadd60.49 per kg of trout produced (representing 25% of private production cost) at current production and price levels. This study shows that installation of filtration units is a low-cost (less than 6% of total cost) and an effective technology for controlling pollution at the source. Internalizing external costs (adding this 6% to private production costs) is one strategy that could contribute to sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The data and technical assistance provided byAgnesVanderpool Spicer,WVCooperative Extension Service; Joseph Hankin and James Jenkins, Freshwater Institute; and the WV Division of Natural Resources, as well as the research assistance of Kezelee Jones and the word processing assistance of April McDonald, are gratefully acknowledged. This study was supported in part by Hatch funds appropriated to the WV Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Scientific article #2561, West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Morgantown, WV, U.S.A.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	aquaculture - economics - eutrophication - externalities - water quality
Subjects:	Agricultural Engineering
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Mr Siva Shankar
Date Deposited:	22 Feb 2012 06:07
Last Modified:	22 Feb 2012 06:07
Official URL:	http://www.springerlink.com/content/0924-6460/
URI:	http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/3114

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