The social cost of dredging: The Bahia Blanca Estuary case

The Bahia Blanca Estuary System constitutes an ecosystem unique in the world by its physical, geographic and biological characteristics. In the frame of a major investment project related with natural gas provision, a dredging process has been planned and its execution results imminent. However, the analysis of socioeconomic effects of this dredging process has not been performed up to now. In this context, our objective is to estimate social costs and benefits of the dredging process related with the gas plant project mainly derived from the loss of the nursery services of the estuary and the loss of the jobs associated with fishing activities. Our results indicate that socioeconomic cost of the dredging related with the project is between US$ 5 million and US$ 6.5 million depending on how the displaced labor force can be reallocated.

► We estimate the social cost of a dredging process in the Bahía Blanca Estuary.
► We consider the loss of the nursery service as the main impact of the project.
► We also take into account the loss of jobs associated with fishery activities.
► We found a social cost of the dredging process between 5 and 6.5 million dollars.