Assessment of direct economic loss of inshore fishing and tourism caused by harmful algal blooms

The economic impacts of the harmful algal blooms(HABs)primarily include the impacts to inshore agriculture and fishing,tourism,ecosystem and human health.An accurate assessment system of direct economic loss of inshore fishing and tourism caused by HABs was established for the Chinese coastal areas.Based on the field investigation of Cochlodinium geminatum HABs that occurred in Zhuhai coast of Guangdong Province during October and November 2009,the present study focused on the direct economic loss structure of inshore fishing and tourism.According to the size of local boat and their management,new evaluation systems were established for inshore fishing loss and tourism loss,respectively.The results showed that direct economic loss of small size boat,which mostly was engaged in inshore fishing,reached $540 000.The loss of middle size boat,which was mainly used by inshore fishing and tourism,reached $1 010 000,whereas big size boat,working on inshore fishing,reached about $610 000.Total direct economic loss caused by the above red tide was about $2.16 million.The economic loss assessment system can be used as the theoretic reference for other marine disasters that occurred in China.