Economic Effects of Management Changes for Kenai River Late-Run Sockeye

Abstract

If fishery managers allowed more late-run sockeye salmon into the Kenai River in July, what would be the economic gains for the sport fishery and the losses for the Upper Cook Inlet commercial fishery? The Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage examined that question, under a contract with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). We looked mainly at the effects of increasing the management target for late-run sockeye by 200,000. Managers could make that change in a number of ways - but for this study, ADF&G provided us with specific assumptions about what they would do. Different assumptions could change our results. To assess the effects of the management changes we studied, it helps to think about three questions: (1) What creates the economic effects? (2) How do we measure those effects? (3) How do different conditions affect the results? We measured the effects of those changes in two ways: changes in net economic value and economic impacts. Net economic value is a measure of benefits minus costs: we add up all the benefits and costs of a change, then subtract the costs. What's left is the net gain or loss in value.