The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 | Page 69

This development implies that rivers which until a
few years ago, were only valued for their irrigation
and drainage functions, are now as valuable as
providing habitats for fishery resources, medium
to generate new income sources like cage cultures
for fish, recreational opportunities for angling
enthusiasts and family outings and amenity
values to homes located beside them. There is
now a realization that in some river waters, the
value of clean and healthy river water system and
positive externalities they provide could match
and even outweigh the summation of the costs
of maintaining these rivers. This is a positive
development. The role of river waters maybe
grossly under-valued, in the sense that much of
their benefits are ignored and not valued. There
exist methodologies to estimate the value of these
environmental functions played by river waters.
Valuing Functions of River Waters
This article is an attempt by researchers from
Universiti Putra Malaysia and Department of
Forestry Peninsular Malaysia to appraise the
functions of river waters as recreational angling

opportunities by selecting the Pahang River. The
full investigation on the economic values of the
Pahang River is reported in Zulnaidah and Mohd
Shahwahid 2013. The Economic Valuation Of Forest
Conservation Benefits, Fisheries Habitat, Pond Fish
Farming and Recreational Angling published by
the Department of Forestry, Peninsular Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur.
The benefits from recreational angling have
increasingly received ex-situ visitors making the
use of the river waters no longer local communitybased but attracting visitors who are alien to
the rural environment. This trend has a positive
aspect making urbanites more aware of the rural
environment. Growing use of river waters for
recreational activities can pose an opportunity
for strengthening the conservation of water
catchments and river water systems. A wide range
of recreational services are provided by rivers to
local residents and visitors. Notable recreational
services include angling, river cruise, whitewater
rafting and recreational swimming.
According to economic theory, value to an
angler could be derived from a Trip Generation

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