EFFECTIVE • EFFICIENT • ADAPTIVE • COLLABORATIVE

DETERMINING AN ESTUARY’S ECONOMIC VALUE 

Placing an economic value on the Indian River Lagoon system is one of the important steps the Indian River National Estuary Program (IRLNEP) has taken 

to increase support and justify spending for its many restoration and protection projects. With three main water bodies—the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana 

River Lagoon, and the Indian River Lagoon—as well as their associated tributaries, the Indian River Lagoon system is considered the most diverse estuarine 

ecosystem in North America, with over 4,000 species of plants and animals inventoried and more discovered every year. Showing Federal, state, and local 

partners that the Lagoon is worthy of protection and continued restoration because of its ecological and economic importance is critical. 

In 1996, the IRLNEP conducted an economic assessment and analysis of the five-county study area—and those values have served them well—but the figures no longer reflect 

today’s economy. The IRLNEP and its hosting agencies, St. Johns and South Florida Water Management Districts, realized they needed to collect current numbers that would. When 

they updated the economic study, the results were substantial, with overall economic benefits of the Indian River Lagoon totaling more than $3.7 billion in 2007. The report attracted immediate attention from the local media as well as the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The best news is that IRLNEP and its partners expect the update 

to help bolster their leveraging efforts and generate the support required to accomplish future restoration and protection work around the Lagoon. 

THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program 

To produce the most accurate 

update possible, the economists 

used advanced technology tools 

such as the Geographical Information System (GIS) to perform 

a more comprehensive assessment of properties adjacent to or 

near the Lagoon compared to 

properties that are further away. 

Unlike the last assessment, in 

which researchers only counted 

developed properties, new tools 

enabled them to include all property located in the five-county 

study area. Therefore, the coastal values totaling $824 million 

(1995 dollars) in the last report 

showed a remarkable jump in 

the new study, which was based 

on 2007 figures. The new and 

more accurate capitalized value 

of the Indian River Lagoon is estimated at $3.7 billion today, 

with activities dependent on the 

Lagoon generating $630 million 

in income to residents, $112 

million in state and local tax revenues, and 15,000 full-and parttime jobs. In addition, the recreational and non-use value of the 

Lagoon would increase by about 

$80 million per year if there 

were a significant increase in 

the amount and diversity of wildlife on the Lagoon and increased 

water quality throughout the Lagoon system resulting from restoration and water quality improvement projects. The update 
 The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative. EPA-842F09001

also included a brief focus on the 

economic value of the Lagoon’s 

72,400 acres of seagrass as 

they support recreational and 

commercial fisheries. Resource 

managers and the economists 

assessed seagrass value at 

$329 million per year or $4,600 

per year per acre of seagrass. 

Furthermore, if the seagrass 

value were to remain unchanged, 

the study showed that over the 

next 100 years, at a two percent 

annual discount rate (the rate at 

which future benefits are reduced each year), the Lagoon’s 

seagrass value would be 

$227,000 per acre. Although not 

a focus of the current study, the 

researchers also pointed out the 

likelihood that seagrass provides 

additional economic values related to water quality and aesthetics. The St. Johns and South 

Florida Water Management Districts provided $100,000 to fund 

the study and the IRLNEP contributed $12,000 to produce outreach materials and to support 

one of the study’s economists in 

her efforts to present the new 

information to the public, various 

advisory boards, and committees throughout the community, 

including: 

• Brevard County Board of 

Commissioners

• Indian River Lagoon Advisory 

Board

• Martin County Business Development Committee

• South Florida Water Management District’s Water Resources 

Advisory Commission

• St. John’s River Water Management District’s Projects and 

Lands Committee

The new report has captured the 

attention of local media, including a newspaper that featured 

details of the assessment on the 

front page of its business section—an appealing placement 

that could help enlarge the pool 

of local businesses interested in 

lending support for restoration 

and protection activities. Some 

of the IRLNEP’s partners are also 

using the updated figures and 

additional information in their 

grant applications, and Michael 

Sole, secretary of the Florida’s 

Department of Environmental 

Protection, frequently touted the 

study and its findings during a 

recent speech he gave to commemorate the Marine Resources 

Council’s 25th anniversary. The 

Council, a longtime IRLNEP partner, is a local nonprofit environmental organization that organizes a lagoon-wide citizens’ 

volunteer water quality monitoring network. To enhance its outreach activities, the IRLNEP developed new traveling displays 

featuring the new economic 

study results and information for 

its own public education events 

and meetings. Furthermore, the 

updated figures will play a critical role in justifying legislative 

expenditures for restoration and 

protection dollars in the future. 

The IRLNEP plans to feature the 

economic values in its state legislative request, which they are 

submitting in the spring of 2009. 

Clearly, the $112,000 spent to 

update the Indian River Lagoon 

Economic Assessment was a 

sound investment that pays big 

dividends.

Visit www.sjrwmd.com/its

yourlagoon to learn more about 

this and other IRLNEP efforts.

EPA’s National Estuary Program 

(NEP) is a unique and successful 

coastal watershed-based program 

established in 1987 under the 

Clean Water Act Amendments. 

The NEP involves the public and 

collaborates with partners to protect, restore, and maintain the water quality and ecological integrity 

of 28 estuaries of national significance located in 18 coastal states 

and Puerto Rico. 

For more information about the 

NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/

estuaries.