This document presents a brief summary of seven NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program funded valuation
studies done over a ten year period in the U.S. coral reef jurisdictions. Other valuation studies were conducted in some of the same jurisdictions over this period.
For the purposes of this summary report, we have focused only on these seven studies. However,
Brander et al (2013) present a detailed analysis of US coral reef valuation studies in which they
include the seven studies discussed here as well as a few others. Brander et al have estimated total economic value of coral reef services for all US coral reef
jurisdictions at just over US$ 3.4 billion per year. The authors consider this value to be a partial
estimate due to (1) the limited geographical coverage of some state/territory level TEV estimates
and (2) the limited set of services that are valued for some states and territories.
Like the report discussed above (Brander et al 2013), this report also comes to a similar conclusion.
Coral reefs contribute significant economic value to the US public. These studies also confirm
that in order to continue to address the management needs and to build public support for
conservation of these resources, economic values must be considered.
