Brad Gentner – President

For eight years, I ran the recreational economics data collection program for the National Marine Fisheries Service. As an Economist in the Division of Economics and Social Analysis, I specialized in survey design, recreational fisheries demand and welfare analysis, non-market valuation, and economic impact modeling for recreational fisheries. I managed all facets of NMFS recreational economic data collections including procurement, survey design and deliverable quality control. Additionally, I chaired the NMFS Economic Impact Working Group, coordinating the development of agency impact models for commercial and recreational fisheries and training NMFS staff in how to build and use custom IMPLAN models. My work for NMFS concentrated on the development and implementation of new methodologies for estimating the benefits, costs, and economic impacts of fisheries policies. My experience includes the design and analysis of revealed and stated preference valuation surveys, expenditure surveys, and industry cost and return surveys using in-person, mail and telephone surveying modes.

My latest research has focused on the use of stated preference choice experiments to predict changes in angler fishing effort, angler welfare, and the economic impacts stemming from changes in recreational regulations. Recently, I completed a national saltwater angler expenditure survey that involved multiple survey modes and mailed approximately 45,000 surveys. My work continues to include economic research and analysis related to commercial and recreational fisheries, working with such organizations as the NMFS Office of Economics and Social Analysis, the NMFS Office of International Affairs, and the International Game Fish Association.

I am experienced in all phases of survey design including sample design, instrument design, focus groups and cognitive interviews. I have extensive experience constructing and modifying economic impact models in IMPLAN to incorporate new industrial sectors not well represented in the standard SIC or NAIC categories. I am able to synthesize complex concepts and present these ideas to diverse audiences in person and in writing. My diverse knowledge and skills in natural resource management, statistics, econometrics, and survey design afford me the ability to craft innovative solutions multi-disciplinary problems.

Click here to view Mr. Gentner’s resume.

Edward Waters – Associate

For the past 15 years Edward Waters has focused on analyzing economic impacts of alternative public policy choices on regional economies. Dr. Waters has used input-output, social accounting matrix (SAM), computable general equilibrium (CGE), and other types of economic models to estimate the effects on regional employment, income and government revenue of policies affecting taxation, public expenditures, and access to types of economic models to estimate the effects on regional employment, income and government revenue of policies affecting taxation, public expenditures, and access to public resources. He has used IMPLAN since 1989, completed advanced IMPLAN training courses, and has considerable expertise incorporating IMPLAN with other types of data, including PacFIN, to customize regional impact models, such as the Fisheries Economic Assessment Model (FEAM).

Dr. Waters recent work as a staff economist and consultant for the Pacific Fishery Management Council includes estimating the income and employment impacts of alternative commercial and recreational fisheries management actions, including coauthoring several environmental impact statements and other documentation required for regulatory changes and management plan amendments. In addition he has coauthored a review of regional economic models used for fisheries impact analysis; analyzed the economic importance of seafood processing in the Alaska economy; analyzed the contribution of agriculture and natural resource industries in the Oregon and Washington economies; and built and run the Oregon Tax Incidence CGE Model (OTIM) while working as staff economist for the Oregon Legislature.

Click here to view Mr. Waters’ resume.

James E. Kirkley – Associate

I am a Professor of Fisheries Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary and Chair of the Department of Coastal and Ocean Policy. My career has focused on applied economic analysis of commercial fisheries. Currently I serve on the Science and Statistical Committees of the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Fisheries Management Councils and chair the Socioeconomic subcommittee South Atlantic Council. I currently serve as the Food and Agriculture Organization expert on: assessing capacity for world tuna fisheries, measuring and assessing capacity in fisheries, and transitioning of fisheries exit. I also serve as the National Marine Fisheries Service expert on: assessing over-capacity in federally managed fisheries, restructuring shrimp fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic, developing ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management, and offshore aquaculture.

Current projects include:

• Development of a parametric, non-stochastic directional distance function approach for assessing efficiency and productivity in the presence of undesirable outputs
• Assessing spatial and temporal linkages in U.S. imports of seafood and related products
• Assessing spatial and temporal linkages in U.S. imports of seafood and related products
• An assessment of the ramifications of the importation of swimming crabs on the Virginia blue crab fishery
• An assessment of changes in U.S. landings and imports and the economic ramifications of increased reliance on imports
• Environmental Impact Statement to support implementing the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act
• Assessing and Reducing Capacity in Global Fisheries
• Social Economic Aspects of Using an Ecosystem-based Strategy to Manage the Chesapeake Bay
• Assessing Capacity and the Cost of Reducing Capacity in U.S. Commercial Fisheries
• Aggregating Firm-Level Estimates of Efficiency and Capacity to the Industry: Distance Functions and Nonparametric Analysis
• Community and Economic Impacts of Highly Migratory Species Fisheries Management
• Economic Impacts of Mid-Atlantic Coastal County and Regional Fisheries

Click here to view Mr. Kirkley’s resume.

Christian Vossler – Associate

I am an applied microeconomist and applied econometrician whose teaching and research primarily focuses on environmental and natural resource issues. Much of my research has centered on non-market valuation methods used to estimate the benefits of environmental and other public goods, with special attention on mechanism design and validity issues related to survey-based valuation methods. I have also been active in theoretical and experimental economics research on public goods funding mechanisms, including the voluntary contributions mechanism and majority voting. Under a recent EPA STAR grant, I am using experimental economics methods to test the efficacy of ambient-based policies for regulating nonpoint source water pollution from agriculture. A second EPA STAR grant is being used for theoretical and empirical work on corporate governance issues related to environmental information disclosure programs. I am currently the Energy and Environmental Policy Research program coordinator for the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment (ISSE), and Director of the Experimental Economics Laboratory at UT.

Click here to view Mr. Vossler’s resume.

Heather E. Bowen – Associate

Heather E. Bowen grew up at her family’s traditional amusement park, where she worked her way through operations, event planning, marketing and management. She combines this experience with her graduate work in business administration, and recreation, parks and tourism sciences at Texas A&M to conduct research on leisure and tourism spaces.

Heather is currently a faculty member in the Department of Recreation Management and Policy at the University of New Hampshire. She teaches research and business courses on services marketing plans, business plans, research design, grant proposal writing, leisure management, interpretation, and festival/event management.

Her research related to leisure and tourism spaces combines quantitative and qualitative analysis. Her specialties include project design, survey construction, focus group and individual interviewing, and narrative analysis. Recent projects include work with Hostelling International – USA, Celebrate Fairfax! Community and Music Festival, Old Salt’s King of the Beach King Mackerel Tournament, Great Northeast Productions’ Snoe.Down Music Festival and Hunter Mountain Jam Music Festival, and Newmarket Heritage Festival.

Heather is a National Association for Interpretation Certified Interpretive Trainer.

Special Thanks

A special thank you to Dan Mushrush for many of the photos on this website.