Ecotourism and fishing in a common ground of two interacting species

This paper investigates some economic consequences of implementing ecotourism which is inhabited by two interacting stocks: a stock of prey (fish) and a stock of predator (marine mammals, e.g., whale, seals, shark, etc.). The prey species is targeted for commercial fishing while the predator species is not subject to fishing but is a potential basis to implement the eco-tourism. We specifically address two key issues. First, we examine the consequences of entrance fee on the total benefit (fishing+eco-tourism) depending on the sensitivity of the number of tourists to the predator abundance level. It is found that total benefit always increases with entrance fee until the entrance fee reaches its optimal value. Second, we examine the effects on interacting species from attempts to reach MSY in prey species. It is found that total benefit always higher than the benefit coming from fishing only even if the fishing is done at MSY level.