Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Valuing Fishing Activity of the Deepor Beel

Abstract

The Deepor Beel is one of the large and important riverine wetlands in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, India. The only Ramsar site of Assam, the Beel is one of the richest biodiversity grounds in the wetland eco-system of the state. The Deepor Beel is the hub of a wide range of organisms. It provides various goods and services directly or indirectly to the villages near to the beel for their livelihood. Despite its contribution to society and ecology as a whole, these goods and services of the Beel are undervalued in the policy provisions. The prime reason for this undervaluation is that most of the goods and services of the Beel are non-marketable and those goods which have direct use-values are never valued in an economic term. To fill the gap partially, this study tries to estimate the direct use values of the Deepor Beel. Among the goods the Deepor Beel provides, fishing can be considered one of the economically significant goods. Fishing provides livelihood directly to 825 households living near the Beel. Therefore, this research tries to estimate the direct use value of fishing in the Deepor Beel. A market price approach is applied to estimate the value of this wetland resource. Net Present Value (NPV) of fishing is also estimated. The total estimated value of fishing is INR 11,64,69,375 per annum. The estimated value of fishing per hectare is INR 29,015.78 per annum. The estimated Net Present Value (NPV) of fishing is INR 97,05,78,125. This valuation is important to draw the attention of the policymakers for resource investment in conserving the Beel for continued benefits.

Keywords

Direct Use Value; Economic Valuation; Market Price Approach; Net Present Value (NPV); Deepor Beel; Assam; India

pdf

References

  1. Azar, C. and Sterner, T. (1996). Discounting and Distributional Considerations in the Context of Global Warming. Ecological Economics, 19, 169–184. DOI:10.1016/0921-8009(96)00065-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-8009(96)00065-1
  2. Bateman, I.J., Abson, D., Beaumont, N., Darnell, A., Fezzi, C., Hanley, N., Kontoleon, A., et al. (2011). Chapter 22: Economic values from ecosystems. In: UK National Ecosystem Assessment: technical report, pp. 1067–1152.
  3. Carson R. M. Bergtrom J. C. (2003). A Review of Ecosystem Valuation Techniques. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-7509.
  4. Das, T.K., Moitra, B., Raichaudhuri, A., Jash, T., Ghosh, S., Mukherjee, A. (2000). Degradation of Water Bodies and Wetlands in West Bengal: Interaction with Economic Development. Final Report, Funded by Environmental Economics Research Committee, World Bank Aided India: Environmental Management Capacity Building Programme
  5. Deepor Beel, Ramsar Sites Information Service, Retrieved21 February 2020 from, https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1207
  6. Deka, J., Tripathi, O. P., Khan, M. L. (2011). A multi-temporal remote sensing approach for monitoring changes in spatial extent of freshwater lake of Deepor Beel Ramsar Site, a major wetland of Assam. Journal of Wetlands Ecology, 5, 40-47. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jowe.v5i0.4696 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jowe.v5i0.4696
  7. Dutta, J., Sharma, A. (2012). Socio-Economic and Conservational Value of Deepor Beel, Assam. International Wetland Symposium, 2012 (pp 125-13). Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetland in Nepal
  8. Dutta, J. (2017). Economic Valuation of the Deepor Beel, Assam. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Gauhati University, Guwahati, India
  9. Forest Reports, Government of Assam, 1998
  10. Gokce, D. (2018). Introductory chapter: Wetland Importance and Management in Wetland Management-Assessing Risk and Sustainable Solution. In Didem Gokce(Ed.). Wetlands Management - Assessing Risk and Sustainable Solutions (pp 3-10). London, UK: Intech Open Publishing. DOI:10.5772/intechopen.82456 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82456
  11. Islam, M.Z. Rahmani, A.R. (2004). Important Bird Areas in India. Priority Sites for Conservation. Indian Bird Conservation Network, Bombay Natural History Society and BirdLife International (UK).
  12. IUCN (1987). Directory of Asian Wetlands. Published by IUCN Participating Organizations with collaboration of IUCN, IWRB, ICBP and WWF-International, Oxford University press, Oxford.
  13. Liu, S., Costanza, R., Troy, A., D’Aagostino, J., Mates W. (2010). Valuing New Jersey’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital: A Spatially Explicit Benefit Transfer Approach. Environmental Management, 45, 1271–1285. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-010-9483-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-010-9483-5
  14. Kauffman, G., J. (2018). Socioeconomic Value of Delaware Wetlands. University of Delaware Water Resources Center Institute for Public Administration Newark, Del. 19716
  15. Meng, L., Dong, J. (2019). LUCC and Ecosystem Service Value Assessment for Wetlands: A Case Study in Nansi Lake, China. Water, 11, 1597. DOI:10.3390/w11081597 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w11081597
  16. Pandit, A., Ekka, A., Biswas. D. K., Chakraborty L., Bhattachrayya B. K. (2018). Aquatourism in floodplain wetlands as a potential alternative livelihood option for the fisherfolks - A case study of Deepor beel in Assam. Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India, 50 (1), 65-70
  17. Roy, M.B., Roy, P. K., Samal, N. R., Mazumder, A. (2012). Socio-economic Valuations of Wetland Based Occupations of Lower Gangetic Basin through Participatory Approach. Environment and Natural Resources Research, 2(4), 30-44. DOI:10.5539/enrr.v2n4p30 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/enrr.v2n4p30
  18. Saikia, J. L. (2019). Deepor Beel Wetland: Threats to Ecosystem Services, Their Importance to Dependent Communities and Possible Management Measure. Natural Resources and Conservation, 7(2), 9-24. DOI: 10.13189/nrc.2019.070201 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13189/nrc.2019.070201
  19. Saikia, P. K., Bhattacharjee, P. C. (1987). A study of the Avifauna of Deepor Beel: A Potential Bird Sanctuary in Assam. Parisah, D. and Prentice, R. C. [EDs] 1989. Wetland and Waterfowl Conservation in Asia. Asian Wetland Bureau/ IWRB, Kuala Lumpur.
  20. Saikia, PK. (2005). Qualitative and quantitative study of lower and higher organisms and their functional role in the Deepor Beel Ecosystem. Retrieved 16 April 2012 from, https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~bezbarua/em/Documents/Deepor%20Report-PrasantaSaikia.pdf
  21. Saikia, P. K., Saikia, M. K. (2011). Biodiversity in Deepor Beel Ramsar site of Assam India, Volume-I Faunal Diversity. USA: Lambert Academic Publishing GMBH & Co. KG.
  22. Sofia, L. A., Nurlianti, S. (2019). The economic value of the resource utilization of wetlands: comparative study of beje fisheries in North Hulu, Sungai Regency, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. AACL Bioflux, 12(1), 143-150
  23. Stuip, M.A.M., Baker, C.J., Oosterberg, W. (2002). The socio-economics of wetlands. Wetlands International and RIZA, Wageningen. The Netherlands.
  24. Verma, M. (2001). Economic Valuation of Bhoj Wetland for sustainable use. Theme: Wetlands and Biodiversity EERC Working Paper Series: WB-9. World Bank Aided India: Environmental Management Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project. Retrieved 01 March 2012 from, http://iifm.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/bhojwetlands2001.pdf
  25. Vijayan, V. S., Prasad, S. N., Vijayan, L., Muralidharan, S. (2004). Inland wetlands of India: Conservation Priorities. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History. Coimbatore.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.