Fisherfolks’ Willingness-to-Pay for the Conservation of Atulayan Bay Marine Protected Area in Sagñay, Camarines Sur, Philippines

The Atulayan Bay is one of the established Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines in 1993 by virtue of Municipal Ordinance No. 93-001. Use of illegal fishing method and declining fish catch were the problems identified in the area. This study estimated the value of the benefits in conserving the marine resources in Atulayan Bay Marine Protected Area in Sagñay. The survey was conducted on February-March 2019 with 110 Atulayan and 225 Nato fisherfolks. The willingness to pay of the fisherfolks was estimated using the contingent valuation method. The parametric (logit regression) and non-parametric (turnbull) estimation were used to calculate for their willingness to pay to conserve the Atulayan Bay MPA. The estimated average willingness to pay per month of fisherfolk for the parametric estimation of Atulayan and Nato were PhP* 91 (US$1.72) and PhP 179 (US$3.39), respectively, and for the non-parametric estimation, PhP 86 (US$1.63) for Atulayan and PhP 27 (US$0.51) for Nato. The significant factors affecting the willingness to pay of Atulayan fisherfolks were income and bid level while for the Nato fisherfolks were age, income and bid level. The estimated willingness to pay values are a useful basis for the possible amount of tax that will be collected monthly from the registered fisherfolks by the municipal office for the conservation of the Atulayan Bay Marine Protected Area.