Economic Impacts of Coastal Hazards on Mississippi Commercial Oyster Fishery from 2005 to 2016

Authors

Benedict C. Posadas, Mississippi State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Research Article

Abstract

This paper attempted to quantify the commercial fishery impacts consisting of wild harvest losses of oysters by commercial Mississippi fishers due to coastal hazards since 2005. The economic impacts of coastal hazards on the Mississippi oyster fishery included the direct losses associated with Katrina in 2005, the oil spill in 2010, spillway opening in 2011 and harmful algal blooms in 2015. The cumulative economic direct impacts on the Mississippi oyster reached almost $40 million, averaging about $3.3 million per year. Long-term data were compiled to develop economic recovery models for the Mississippi oyster fishery. The economic recovery model attempted to explain the individual and joint effects of the recent coastal hazards, output and input markets, environmental conditions, and regulatory and management strategies on the levels of commercial oyster harvests and dockside values. The commercial fishery impacts of Hurricane Katrina and harmful algal blooms were isolated from the total impacts. The impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Bonnet Carre spillway opening were not completely isolated in one year to avoid multicollinearity problems in estimation. The oyster relaying and cultch planting activities generated significant positive impacts on dockside values. As a result of these hazardous coastal events, the Mississippi oyster fishery cannot rely on its own to recover without management intervention and alternative production systems.

Recommended Citation

Posadas, Benedict C. (2019) "Economic Impacts of Coastal Hazards on Mississippi Commercial Oyster Fishery from 2005 to 2016," Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15351/2373-8456.1115

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