Low-income fishermen's willingness-to-pay for fisheries and watershed management: An application of choice experiment to Lake Tana, Ethiopia

In this paper, choice experiment was applied for valuation of Lake Tana's fishery and watershed. Two attributes - fishing control and lake side plantation - were identified as relevant attributes for the choice experiment. A monetary attribute - payment for fishing permit was also included. Multinomial and random parameter logit models were used for estimation. All the attributes included were significant factors in affecting the probability of choosing an alternative scenario. The results suggest that fishermen were more concerned about fishing control as reflected by the higher value they give to fishing control than lake side plantation. Household income, years of education, and family size were found to be significant. The economic welfare measures we calculated for two scenarios show that fishermen were willing to pay 57 birr (US$5.3)) per month for a moderate improvement scenario and 93 birr (US$8.6) per month for an aggressive scenario for the two attributes.

► We apply choice experiment for valuation of Lake Tana's fishery and watershed in Ethiopia. ► Fishing control, lake side plantation and payment for fishing permit were identified as attributes. ► Results suggest that fishermen were more concerned about fishing control than lake side plantation.