The above economic benefits ofmaintaining mangroves need to be com-pared to the returns of the alternative useof the mangrove area,which is conversionto shrimp farming. Only by comparing thereturns to these two alternative uses is itpossible to determine whether or not fullconversion of mangroves into commercialshrimp farms,which is occuring in the studyarea and throughout southern Thailand,hasbeen worthwhile.To facilitate this comparison,two analy-ses are discussed in this section. The firstis a financial cost-benefit analysis (CBA) ofthe private returns to a typical commercialshrimp farm in southern Thailand establishedthrough mangrove conversion. This analysisindicates the overall commercial profitabil-ity of shrimp aquaculture and determinesthe extent to which there is a private incen-tive to invest in such operations. However