STATED CHOICE VALUATION OF MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS IN THE DUTCH WADDEN SEA

TL;DRAbstract

Aparticular type of shellfishery in the Netherlands, namely cockle fishery in theWadden Sea, has received much attention from both policy makers and environmentalists. Until the 1950s, most of the catch resulted from fishing by hand. In the beginning of the 1960s the sector introduced mechanical techniques of fishing. According to environmental organizations (notably “DeWaddenvereniging”1), the process of mechanical shellfishing altered the sediment structure of the seabed in an irreversible way (Stichting Odus, 20012). An additional negative impact of cockle fishery is that it withdraws a great amount of cockles from the food web in the Wadden Sea. Cockles constitute an important element of the diet of the bird population in the Wadden Sea (EVA II, 2003). This does not imply, however, that the relationship between cockle fishery and the environmental quality of theWadden Sea is fully clear and understood. For a long time, it has been debated which policy measures should be taken. Some

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