Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon Analysis Mixed preferences for lionfish encounters on reefs in Tobago: Results from a choice experiment Jahson Berhane Alemu I a, ⁎ , Peter Schuhmann b , John Agard a a Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago b Department of Economics and Finance, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Ecosystem disservice Ecosystem service Coral reef Tobago Choice experiment ABSTRACT Despite well publicised knowledge of the spread and potential negative impacts of lionfish in the Caribbean, there has been little attempt to assess the economic costs of lionfish as an ecosystem disservice relative to the recreational amenity value associated with viewing an exotic and unique species. We use choice experiments to explore the determinants of recreational divers' and snorkellers' willingness-to-pay for marginal changes water quality, reef quality, fish diversity and lionfish sightings in Tobago. Expectedly, on-reef recreationalists showed strong preferences and willingness-to-pay for better water quality, reef quality and fish diversity. However, snorkellers showed mixed preferences for lionfish, favouring some lionfish on reefs relative to none. Recreational divers perceived all lionfish levels as negative and are willing-to-pay more than snorkellers for high quality reef attributes. Overall, the presence of lionfish on reefs in Tobago induces more losses than benefits. Choice dif- ferences between groups highlights the importance of policy that recognises heterogeneous preferences for ecosystem services and points to the need for continued engagement with stakeholders regarding ecosystem services and disservices. Additionally, our study showed that water quality is a critical driver of economic value for on–reef recreation. Therefore, policy should strive to alleviate adverse impacts on coastal water quality. 1. Introduction Coral reefs provide a wide range of benefits (i.e. ecosystem services [ES]) which support the wellbeing and economic activity of millions of people around the world (Moberg and Folke, 1999). These include food (White et al., 2000), coastal protection (Sheppard et al., 2005) and medicine (Gerwick, 2008). By supporting a rich diversity of charismatic plants and animals, coral reefs also provide cultural services such as recreation (Uyarra et al., 2009). However, ecosystems can also have attributes that generate real or perceived negative impacts on human wellbeing, which are termed ecosystem disservices (ED) (Shackleton et al., 2016). One example is the environmental and human welfare losses associated with the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois spp., hereafter lionfish) as a non-native species to the Caribbean. Introduced in the 1980s, it has since spread throughout the greater Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico (Betancur-R et al., 2011; Schofield et al., 2015). Literature on the spread and control of lionfish (e.g. Green et al., 2014), suggests that the species poses a significant threat to native biodiversity, commercial fisheries and human productivity (through envenomation), with possible negative consequences for the tourism and fisheries sectors (Albins and Hixon, 2013). While the complete eradication of lionfish in its invaded habitat is unlikely owing to their high abundance and wide distribution (Arias-González et al., 2011), local-scale culling has proved to be an effective solution to mitigate lionfish impacts (Frazer et al., 2012; Green et al., 2014). Unfortunately, limited funding has meant that many of these culling campaigns are short-lived. Part of the reason for shortcomings in policy and financing related to lionfish control may due to the relative dearth of information regarding stakeholder preferences for lionfish or the economic con- sequences of lionfish on reefs (Malpica-Cruz et al., 2017; Scyphers et al., 2015). Economic valuation is advocated as a pragmatic decision support tool to aid decision making by presenting the values placed on eco- systems into a familiar and understandable context (Laurans and Mermet, 2014). Understanding the relative values of various aspects of ecosystem services and disservices can help policy makers find a bal- ance between the mitigation of environmental degradation and other contributions to human welfare. Coral reefs can be difficult to value in traditional markets, but non-market valuation methods like choice ex- periments (CE) present a viable option to assess the use and non-use values of coral reefs and to understand how changes to specific reef attributes may impact human wellbeing (Costanza et al., 2014). For https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106368 Received 19 October 2018; Received in revised form 8 May 2019; Accepted 18 June 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore. E-mail address: jahsonb@gmail.com (J.B. Alemu I). Ecological Economics 164 (2019) 106368 0921-8009/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T