Daniel F. Viana

Bio: Daniel F. Viana is an academic researcher from University of California, Santa Barbara. The author has contributed to research in topics: Fisheries management & Recreation. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 8 publications receiving 55 citations.

Accounting for tourism benefits in marine reserve design.

Abstract: Marine reserve design often considers potential benefits to conservation and/or fisheries but typically ignores potential revenues generated through tourism. Since tourism can be the main source of economic benefits for many marine reserves worldwide, ignoring tourism objectives in the design process might lead to sub-optimal outcomes. To incorporate tourism benefits into marine reserve design, we develop a bioeconomic model that tracks tourism and fisheries revenues through time for different management options and location characteristics. Results from the model show that accounting for tourism benefits will ultimately motivate greater ocean protection. Our findings demonstrate that marine reserves are part of the optimal economic solution even in situations with optimal fisheries management and low tourism value relative to fisheries. The extent of optimal protection depends on specific location characteristics, such as tourism potential and other local amenities, and the species recreational divers care about. Additionally, as tourism value increases, optimal reserve area also increases. Finally, we demonstrate how tradeoffs between the two services depend on location attributes and management of the fishery outside marine reserve borders. Understanding when unavoidable tradeoffs will arise helps identify those situations where communities must choose between competing interests.

Social Science/Natural Science Perspectives on Wildfire and Climate Change

Abstract: In western North America, wildfire is a critical component of many ecosystems and a natural hazard that can result in catastrophic losses of human lives and property. Billions of dollars are spent suppressing wildfires each year. In the past decades, academic research has made substantial contributions to the understanding of fire and its interaction with climate and land management. Most reviews of the academic literature, however, are centered in either natural or social science. We offer an integrated cross-disciplinary guide to state-of-the art fire science and use this review to identify research gaps. We focus on the modern era and understanding fire in the context of a changing climate in western North America. We find that studies combining social and natural science perspectives remain limited and that interactions among coupled system components are poorly understood. For example, while natural science studies have identified how fuel treatments alter fire regimes, few social science studies examine how decisions are made about fuel treatments and how these decisions respond to changes in fire regimes. A key challenge is to better quantify the effects of actual fire management policies in a way that accounts for the complexity of coupled natural and natural–human system interactions.

Pesca no arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo: 13 anos de monitoramento

Abstract: The objective of the present study was to verify the temporal variation of the specific composition of the pelagic fishes caught by commercial fishing boats and the catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of the main caught species in the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago (SPSPA). Data from six fishing boats based in Natal - RN (Brazil) that operated in the SPSPA were monitored between 1998 and 2010, with a total of 290 landings. The yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) was the main species caught, showing a relatively stable CPUE throughout the years. Monthly yellowfin tuna CPUE values has shown a large increase between November and March indicating a greater abundance of this species during this period. Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) CPUE was also rather stable over the years and monthly CPUE indicated an increase between July and September. The rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulata) CPUE also remained stable over the years and grew in the summer, between October and December. Flying fish (Cheilopogon cyanopterus) CPUE showed a decline in the last years of monitoring and monthly CPUE had low values from June to November and high values in the remaining months, with peaks in December and April. Observed CPUE variations of the monitored species are discussed throughout the text.

Design trade-offs in rights-based management of small-scale fisheries.

Abstract: Small-scale fisheries collectively have a large ecological footprint and are key sources of food security, especially in developing countries. Many of the data-intensive approaches to fishery management are infeasible in these fisheries, but a strategy that has emerged to overcome these challenges is the establishment of territorial user rights for fisheries (TURFs). In this approach, exclusive fishing zones are established for groups of stakeholders, which eliminates the race to fish with other groups. A key challenge, however, is setting the size of TURFs-too large and the number of stakeholders sharing them impedes collective action, and too small and the movement of target fish species in and out of the TURFs effectively removes the community's exclusive access. We assessed the size of 137 TURFs from across the globe relative to this design challenge by applying theoretical models that predict their performance. We estimated that roughly two-thirds of these TURFs were sized ideally to overcome the challenges posed by resource movement and fisher group size. However, for most of the remaining TURFs, all possible sizes were either too small to overcome the resource-movement challenge or too large to overcome the collective action challenge. Our results suggest these fisheries, which target mobile species in densely populated regions, may need additional interventions to be successful.

Risk-Aversion and Willingness to Pay For Energy Saving Measures in Residential Buildings

Abstract: This paper uses a choice experiment to evaluate the consumers' willingness to pay for energy-saving measures in Switzerland's residential buildings. These measures include air renewal (ventilation) systems and insulation of windows and facades. Two groups of respondents consisting respectively of 163 apartment tenants and 142 house owners were asked to choose between their housing status quo and each one of the several hypothetical situations with different attributes and prices. The estimation method is based on a fixed-effects logit model. The results suggest that the benefits of the energy-saving attributes are significantly valued by the consumers. These benefits include both individual energy savings and environmental benefits as well as comfort benefits namely, thermal comfort, air quality and noise protection.

Unitization of spatially connected renewable resources

Abstract: Spatial connectivity of renewable resources induces a spatial externality in extraction. We explore the consequences of decentralized spatial property rights in the presence of spatial externalities. We generalize the notion of unitization - developed to enhance cooperative extraction of oil and gas fields - and apply it to renewable resources which face a similar spatial commons problem. We find that unitizing a common pool renewable resource can yield first-best outcomes even when participation is voluntary, provided profit sharing rules can vary by participant.

Drivers of redistribution of fishing and non-fishing effort after the implementation of a marine protected area network.

Abstract: Marine spatial planning (MSP) is increasingly utilized to sustainably manage ocean uses. Marine protected areas (MPAs), a form of spatial management in which parts of the ocean are regulated to fishing, are now a common tool in MSP for conserving marine biodiversity and managing fisheries. However, the use of MPAs in MSP often neglects – or simplifies – the redistribution of fishing and non-fishing activities inside and outside of MPAs following their implementation. This redistribution of effort can have important implications for effective MSP. Using long term (14 years) aerial surveys of boats at the California Channel Islands, we examined the spatial redistribution of fishing and non-fishing activities and their drivers following MPA establishment. Our data represent 6 years of information before the implementation of an MPA network and 8 years after implementation. Different types of boats responded in different ways to the closures, ranging from behaviors by commercial dive boats that support the hypothesis of fishing-the-line, to behaviors by urchin, sport fishing, and recreational boats that support the theory of ideal free distribution. Additionally, we found that boats engaged in recreational activities targeted areas that are sheltered from large waves and located near their home ports, while boats engaged in fishing activities also avoided high wave areas but were not constrained by the distance to their home ports. We did not observe the expected pattern of effort concentration near MPA borders for some boat types; this can be explained by the habitat preference of certain activities (for some activities, the desired habitat attributes are not inside the MPAs), species’ biology (species such as urchins where the MPA benefit would likely come from larval export rather than adult spillover), or policy-infraction avoidance. The diversity of boat responses reveals variance from the usual simplified assumption that all extractive boats respond similarly to MPA establishment. Our work is the first empirical study to analyze the response of both commercial and recreational boats to closure. Our results will inform MSP in better accounting for effort redistribution by ocean users in response to the implementation of MPAs and other closures. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.