Economic Damages to Recreation: Alaska Sport Fishing in the Aftermath of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, those planning economic studies to assess damages from lost recreational uses identified sport fishing as the recreational activity with the most potential for rigorous evaluation of the spill's impact. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game had for a good many years collected data that if appropriately synthesized would produce information fundamental to such evaluation. The Alaska Department of Law determined that it required this information for legal representation of the state in the oil spill litigation and contracted the Department of Fish and Game to produce it.