How much do people in Scotland value characteristics of marine and coastal areas

1. Introduction

This report summarises the results of a choice experiment survey that was designed to capture the preferences of Scottish people towards the management of marine and coastal areas in Scotland.

The objective of this study was to improve understanding of the economic value people place on key environmental and management characteristics of marine and coastal areas in Scotland.

The specific research aims were:

• Assess how people in Scotland perceive and interact with marine and coastal areas in Scotland
• Estimate the willingness to pay that people in Scotland have for changes in the characteristics of marine and coastal areas in Scotland
• Examine whether different groups of people in Scotland hold different values for changes in the characteristics of marine and coastal areas in Scotland

This research has been undertaken by the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government, with technical advice and support provided by the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) at the University of East Anglia. The project has also been supported by a Project Steering Group, who actively participated in steering group meetings and provided extensive advice and feedback throughout the project.

This report is structured as follows:

• Section 2 contains a literature review
• Section 3 describes the research methodology
• Section 4 summarises the results from the choice experiment and other elements of the survey questionnaire
• Section 5 explains how the validity of results has been assessed
• Section 6 concludes