Análise da Preferência do Pescador Artesanal do Município de Pentecoste (CE) por Programas de Peixamento

Abstract: The continental fishing has an important role to the livelihood and income of the rural families of the Northeastern region in Brazil. Aiming to increase the catch level of the continental fishing, the National Department of Drought Works (DNOCS) has created the fish stocking program of the public dams. This research aims to reveal the fishers’ preference that live in the municipality of Pentecoste (Ceará State) towards the fish stocking program having as basis their willingness to pay (WTP) for fishing scenarios. To do that, we estimate the willingness to pay for attributes which affect the fisher’s choice for reservoir by the method of environmental valuation, called Choice Experiment. Based upon a sample of 100 fishers, the willingness to pay was estimated according to the conditional and mix logit models. The fisher’s mean WTP to fish at a stocked dam was 50,00 BRL/day that shows the increased fisher’s wellbeing due to the DNOCS’s fishing stocking program. The fisher’s mean WTP to substitute the current fishing experience (status quo) by any other proposed scenario was 89,00 BRL/day, revealing the opportunities of improving the fishing at dams of the semiarid Northeastern region.