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Executive Summary

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The ocean is one of the least measured and observed regions of the planet. Better ocean information provides many benefits to society, and efforts are underway to improve our understanding. The South East Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) consists of a three-pronged program of observation, modeling, and data management. SEACOOS collects, manages, and disseminates oceanic and atmospheric observation data and information products. SEACOOS data are collected off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The costs of deploying and operating coastal observing systems nationwide are uncertain, but range from tens of millions to billions of dollars per year. It is likely that the government rather than the private sector will provide the major share of funding to support these systems. Determining the magnitude of the potential economic benefits of coastal observation data relative to costs is a major policy issue.

Many economic activities may benefit from improved SEACOOS information. For consistency with other regional studies of SEACOOS benefits, we consider five benefit categories: maritime commercial transportation, commercial fishing, recreational boating and fishing, search and rescue operations, and oil spill prevention. In addition, we consider additional benefit categories of particular importance within the SEACOOS region: beach recreation, coastal erosion control, hurricane prediction and evacuation, recreational cruises, commercial fishing vessel accidents, and maritime shipping accidents.

Better SEACOOS data drive better ocean and weather forecast models, which in turn improve management and operational efficiency in coastal-dependent sectors of the economy. Improved efficiency produces benefits in terms of higher value products and lower costs. The full, eventual impacts of improved SEACOOS information are difficult to estimate. Following the methodology used in similar studies of other regions, we evaluate the impacts of assumed, conservative changes in economic activity or costs in each sector. Typically, a one percent change in activity or cost is considered.

The estimated total annual benefits of SEACOOS information across all states in the SEACOOS region and across all benefit categories are $170 million (2003 $'s). Beach recreation, search and rescue operations, and recreational cruises receive the largest annual benefits, $88 million, $40 million, and $27 million. Annual benefits in the remaining categories are: maritime commercial shipping transit time, $4.6 million, maritime commercial shipping grounding reduction, $0.13 million, marine recreational fishing, $3 million, commercial fishing, $3.3 million, beach erosion management, $2.0 million, hurricane evacuation, $0.9 million, and oil spills, $0.6 million.

Comparing across states within the SEACOOS region, Florida receives more than 67% of the estimated SEACOOS region benefits, due to disproportionately large benefits in the beach recreation and recreational cruise categories. North Carolina and South Carolina each receive approximately 13% of regional benefits, while Georgia receives approximately 8%. The categories receiving the largest benefits in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia are beach recreation and search and rescue operations.

The SEACOOS region annual benefit estimate of $170 million falls between estimates of $33 million for the Gulf of Maine and $381 million for the Gulf of Mexico. The major drivers of regional differences are the large beach recreation and recreational cruise benefits in the SEACOOS region and the large offshore oil and gas extraction benefits in the Gulf region.