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Ropicki, Andrew

Specialist

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Ropicki, Andrew

Orcid ID0000-0002-9275-1463

Specialist

assistant professor and Florida Sea Grant marine economics specialist, UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics Department, Gainesville FL

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Publications

How Ecosystem Services are Measured and Why it Matters for Florida

Charles Wallace, Anna Braswell, Mysha Clarke, Andrew Ropicki, Tara Wade, Frank Asche, Ashley Smyth, Armando Ubeda, and Ed Camp

Florida has many ecosystems that are thought of as especially important such as springs, coasts, dry prairies, and the Everglades. One of the ways importance is measured is through value. The term ecosystem services describes the benefits ecosystems and their components provide humans. This publication describes some of the ways to measure ecosystem services and explains how the different approaches to assess ecosystems might be selected, depending on what is most important to the user. This publication should help Extension and outreach agents, as well as agency personnel better understand ecosystem services values and explain them to the public. It should also help interested members of the public who wish to learn more about ecosystem services for themselves.

Market Opportunities for Florida Farmed Oysters

Robert Botta, Taryn Garlock, Edward V. Camp, Andrew Ropicki, and Frank Asche

The oyster aquaculture industry has grown quickly in recent years. New farming techniques target specific attributes that increase oysters' value and allow them to be sold in the high-value, half-shell market. A lack of economic data makes it difficult for growers to determine which specific attributes increase oyster value, however. This publication summarizes findings from a recent study that examined restaurant menus to obtain economic data on raw, half-shell oysters. Major findings indicate that brand is an oyster attribute that provides value, and that marketing oysters with information on two or more attributes can also result in higher prices. Additionally, locally sourced oysters are often sold at cheaper prices, providing an opportunity for growers from outside regions to enter new markets. The findings will be useful to Florida oyster growers as attempts to expand Florida’s oyster aquaculture industry continue.

An Introduction to Harvest Tags for Marine Recreational Fisheries

Edward Camp, Zachary Siders, Andrew Ropicki, and Frank Asche

Managing recreational fisheries requires balancing sustainability against allowing as much access and harvest as possible. Maintaining sustainability is made harder by discard mortality where any fishing activity, even catch and release, risks fish dying from injuries, predation, or other causes. This is especially a problem for Florida reef fish species that live at depths and habitats where barotrauma increases mortality and depredation by larger fish, sharks, or marine mammals increases it further. Harvest (or trip) tags could reduce overharvest, lower discard mortality, and allow anglers more freedom to choose when to fish. Harvest tags would limit the total fish harvested, but could eliminate one of the least popular current management restrictions, harvest seasons. This publication describes harvest tag approaches, discussing how they are already used in fishing and hunting and describing some of the potential benefits and costs if they were applied in Florida.

Understanding Metrics for Communicating the Economic Importance of Florida’s Fisheries Part I: An Overview

Edward V. Camp, Christa D. Court, Andrew Ropicki, and Robert Botta

Understanding the economic importance of fisheries and coastal resources is vitally important for making good management decisions that affect human communities, local businesses, and environment and ecological sustainability. However, economic “importance” is not a very specific term, and can mean completely different things to different people. We reviewed different fields of natural resource economics to and describe the different economic terms most often used. This information can help management agencies and cooperative Extension agents use the correct terminology and teach the correct terminology in their outreach.

Artificial Reefs in Florida 101: Effects on Fishers (and Divers)—Part 3 of an Artificial Reef Series

Lisa Chong, Angela B. Collins, Holly Abeels, Anna Braswell, Ana Zangroniz, Andrew Ropicki, Scott Jackson, and Edward V. Camp

Increasingly, coastal managers are placing artificial reefs in marine waters. These long-lasting habitat alterations have measurable effects on fish, fishers, divers, fisheries, and marine social ecological systems. Understanding how artificial reefs function is necessary to make good decisions about future artificial reefs. Scientific research on many aspects of artificial reefs is not always summarized and explained. In response to this need, we designed a 4-part series called Artificial Reefs 101. This publication, part 3 of the Artificial Reefs series, explains how artificial reefs affect fishers and divers. It will help the interested public understand more about the ecological effects of artificial reefs and provide detailed information to stakeholders including management agencies, local governments, artificial reef manufacturers, and Extension agents, to allow for better-informed decisions about building and managing artificial reefs.

Florida Marine Baitfish Aquaculture Series – Part 1: Marketing Opportunities and Challenges

Marissa Drake, Andrew Ropicki, Matthew A. DiMaggio, Kelly Grogan, Cortney L. Ohs, Laura Tiu, Edward V. Camp, and Jordan Moor

This publication, Part 1 in the Florida Marine Baitfish Aquaculture series, outlines opportunities and challenges associated with marketing aquacultured live marine baitfish in Florida. It examines why Florida is uniquely suited for the continued development of this industry, reviews the marine recreational angling baitfish market, and describes the opportunities and challenges associated with marine baitfish marketing and selling live baitfish to marine baitfish retailers. This publication is intended to provide information to current and potential farmers, as well as management agency and outreach personnel and the interested public. It should help farmers, potential farmers, and perhaps investors understand the potential scale, opportunities, and challenges of live baitfish aquaculture in Florida. This same information can assist policymakers and outreach personnel in their management decisions and the communications of those decisions.

Artificial Reefs in Florida 101 – why are they built? Part 1 of an Artificial Reef series

Lisa Chong, Angela B. Collins, Holly Abeels, Anna Braswell, Andrew Ropicki, Scott Jackson, and Edward V. Camp

Increasingly, coastal managers are placing artificial reefs in marine waters. These long-lasting habitat alterations have measurable effects on fish, fishers, divers, fisheries, and marine social ecological systems. Understanding how artificial reefs function is necessary to make good decisions about future artificial reefs. Scientific research on many aspects of artificial reefs is not always summarized and explained. In response to this need, we designed a 4-part series called Artificial Reefs 101. This publication, Part 1 of the Artificial Reefs 101 series, explains why artificial reefs are built. It defines what artificial reefs are and explains why people build and deploy artificial reefs. It should help the interested public understand how artificial reefs affect marine resources, and provide a background and baseline of information for decision-makers such as local officials, management agency personnel, and Extension agents.

Artificial Reefs in Florida 101 – effects on fish: Part 2 of an Artificial Reef series

Lisa Chong, Angela B. Collins, Holly Abeels, Anna Braswell, Ana Zangroniz, Andrew Ropicki, Scott Jackson, and Edward V. Camp

Increasingly, coastal managers are placing artificial reefs in marine waters. These long-lasting habitat alterations have measurable effects on fish, fishers, divers, fisheries, and marine social ecological systems. Understanding how artificial reefs function is necessary to make good decisions about future artificial reefs. Scientific research on many aspects of artificial reefs is not always summarized and explained. In response to this need, we designed a 4-part series called Artificial Reefs 101. This publication, part 2 of the Artificial Reefs series, explains how artificial reefs affect fish populations. It will help the interested public understand more about the ecological effects of artificial reefs and provide detailed information to stakeholders including management agencies, local governments, artificial reef manufacturers, and Extension agents, to allow for better-informed decisions about building and managing artificial reefs.

Artificial Reefs in Florida 101 – effects on fisheries: Part 4 of an Artificial Reef series

Lisa Chong, Angela B. Collins, Holly Abeels, Anna Braswell, Andrew Ropicki, and Edward V. Camp

Increasingly, coastal managers are placing artificial reefs in marine waters. These long-lasting habitat alterations have measurable effects on fish, fishers, divers, fisheries, and marine social ecological systems. Understanding how artificial reefs function is necessary to make good decisions about future artificial reefs. Scientific research on many aspects of artificial reefs is not always summarized and explained. In response to this need, we designed a 4-part series called Artificial Reefs 101. This publication, part 4 of the Artificial Reefs series, explores a complicated but fascinating aspect of artificial reefs—should we expect them to lead to better fishing in the long run? Many people think artificial reefs should be a “win-win” since both fish and fishers seem to like them. But it is increasingly apparent that they are likely to increase fishing mortality more than they increase fish populations. So they could lead to more restrictive regulations.