Valuing multi-attribute marine water quality

The marine environment provides many goods and services that depend on the quality of coastal waters. In this paper, we represent water quality by three different attributes, coastal cod stock level, bathing water quality, and biodiversity level, and carry out a choice experiment among residents on the Swedish west coast to estimate the economic benefits of improved coastal water quality. We find that respondents have high levels of environmental concern and that substantial values are at stake. The highest values were placed on preventing further depletion of marine biodiversity and to improve Swedish cod stocks.