Measuring the socioeconomic value of the SoundToxins partnership to the commercial shellfish industry.

The SoundToxins phytoplankton monitoring and research partnership supports the Washington State Department of Health (WDOH) biotoxin monitoring program by providing an early warning system of harmful algae bloom species, and monitoring phytoplankton at strategic locations near shellfish harvesting sites throughout Puget Sound. SoundToxins partners are Tribal biologists, Federal, State and County researchers, University staff and students, environmental educators, shellfish and finfish producers and community members. When harmful algae are detected by SoundToxins, an alert notifies WDOH managers who can take action including prioritizing shellfish sample analysis at the Public Health Laboratory and request shellfish samples. This study is the first to estimate company-level valuation of the benefits provided by SoundToxins program to the shellfish industry using an economic survey distributed using both in-person and online convenience sampling approaches. This study demonstrated that the average shellfish grower is willing to pay $533.31 per year to support SoundToxins. These findings are consistent with other studies which concluded that protecting public health and resilient coastal industries via continuous environmental monitoring and management of early warning systems is worthwhile.