Marine Policy 121 (2020) 104196 Available online 4 September 2020 0308-597X/Published by Elsevier Ltd. Does angler willingness-to-pay for changes in harvest regulations vary by state? Results from a choice experiment in the Gulf of Mexico David W. Carter a, * , Sabrina J. Lovell b , Christopher Liese a a 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, FL, 33133, USA b 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA ABSTRACT Information on the economic value of changes in harvest regulations such as bag limits is necessary to understand the economic benefts and costs of recreational fshing policies. As fshery managers consider policies that vary across space, time, and angler groups we need information on the distribution of angler willingness-to- pay (WTP) for regulations across these dimensions. In this paper we ask whether angler WTP for changes in bag limits varies by state of license. We estimated an angler choice model using data from a stated preference choice experiment in the Gulf of Mexico. The parameters of the model were used to calculate the distribution of WTP for changes in bag limits for dolphinfsh, snapper, red snapper, grouper, and king mackerel. Using the bag limit WTP distributions for each species we examined whether WTP varied by state in a statistically signifcant and economically meaningful way. We found that anglers with a license to fsh in Florida were willing to pay relatively more for grouper bag limits than anglers with a license to fsh in Louisiana. We also found that anglers with a license to fsh in Alabama or Mississippi were willing to pay relatively more for red snapper bag limits than anglers with a license to fsh in Florida. There were not signifcant differences in the WTP for the bag limits among anglers with a license to fsh in Louisiana and anglers with a license to fsh in Alabama or Mississippi. 1. Introduction Fishery managers need to understand the economic benefts and costs of fshing regulations to select policies that can improve the eff- ciency of resource use. This requires information on the economic value to anglers for changes in harvest regulations such as bag limits and season closures. Researchers typically estimate the economic value of changes to the “average angler” on an “average trip” and then apply this estimate to population and effort estimates to arrive at the change in aggregate economic value. This approach is generally appropriate for policies that cover a broad geographic area or set of anglers. Increas- ingly, however, fshery managers are considering policies that vary across space, time, and angler groups. For example, the recreational red snapper fshery in the Gulf of Mexico has policies which can differ by state, by federal and state waters, and by mode of fshing (i.e., private or for-hire boat). The Federal management of the recreational harvest of red snapper has been partially delegated to the state fsh and wildlife agencies, raising the importance of state jurisdictions. In these cases, information on the distribution of angler preferences and willingness-to- pay (WTP) across these dimensions is necessary to accurately evaluate the economic benefts and costs of regulation changes. This is especially true in cases where managers are considering the allocation of fshery resources among these different angling populations. There are a few studies that calculate WTP for recreational fshing by state. Bennear et al. [1] used data on license sales to estimate the value of a freshwater fshing day in each of the 48 contiguous states. The estimated values per state varied, but all estimates had fairly wide confdence intervals so it was diffcult to identify signifcant differences. The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service also commissioned a series of regional studies to calculate state-specifc estimates of the value of a saltwater fshing day and a unit increase in catch of key species [2–5]. However, whereas the state-specifc estimates presented in these studies varied, there was no attempt to formally evaluate whether the differ- ences were statistically signifcant or economically meaningful. Other research has compared the value of recreational fshing for anglers fshing in different states using the results from different studies. For example, the U.S. Forest Service maintains a Recreational Use Values Database with estimates of the value per day for various recreational activities, including saltwater fshing [6]. A regression approach is used to identify differences value per activity by region, but not by state. Similarly, Johnston et al. [7] estimated a meta-regression using nearly 400 estimates of the value per fsh, but did not identify state effects. In a series of studies Lew and Larson generated estimates of angler WTP for changes in fshing regulations in Alaska [8–11]. They demon- strated that the WTP for regulatory changes can vary geographically for different species. Specifcally, they found that residents living in * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: david.w.carter@noaa.gov (D.W. Carter), sabrina.lovell@noaa.gov (S.J. Lovell), christopher.liese@noaa.gov (C. Liese). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Policy journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104196 Received 10 March 2020; Received in revised form 29 July 2020; Accepted 23 August 2020