Recent government legislation, which calls for the eradication of trout from ecosystems where they may cause harm, could damage the tourism appeal of many South African catchments. However, no South African studies have tried to quantify the economic impact of removing trout from rivers and streams. This study aimed first to value the Rhodes trout fishery, North Eastern Cape, South Africa, and second to assess whether the trout fly fishing industry in Rhodes could form the foundation for the implementation of a local economic development initiative. Overall, the study found that the trout fishing industry directly generates approximately R5�658�240 per annum, and sustains a minimum of 39 direct job opportunities for the community of Rhodes, and can therefore provide the impetus for the creation of a tourism-based local economic development programme.direct expenditure, local economic development, trout, tourism, fly fishing, job opportunities, Rhodes village, North Eastern Cape, South Africa,

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Recent government legislation in South Africa (the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No.10 of 2004) calls for the removal of trout from ecosystems and habitats where they may cause harm. The elimination of trout would, however, undermine the tourism appeal of many upper catchments in South Africa to recreational fishers. This paper reports the first formal recreational valuation of a trout fishery in South Africa - the one in and around Rhodes village, North Eastern Cape. The valuation is carried out by applying the individual travel cost method using several count data models. The zero truncated negative binomial model which allows for the non-negative integer nature of the trip data, for truncation as well as for over-dispersion, found that the consumer surplus per day and per trip to the Rhodes trout fishery was ZAR2 668 (US$334) and ZAR13,072 (US$1634), respectively in the year 2007, and the total consumer surplus generated was ZAR18,026,288 (US$2 253,286).trout, South Africa, travel cost method, count data, recreational value,

Estuaries in South Africa face negative crowding effects with respect to motorised boat use because of competing demand. This paper proposes this be managed through user charges and that the setting of these charges be informed by applying a choice experiment to estimate user preferences for reduced motorised boat congestion on the Kromme River Estuary, Eastern Cape. The application of this method led the paper to deduce that users are willing to pay an additional supplementary charge of R548 per annum during peak periods (only) in order to experience a decrease in negative crowding effects. JEL Classification: Q26

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