Measuring the Economic Implications of Prohibited Species By-Catch Mortality, Including Loss of Reproductive Potential, in Nonselective Multispecies Commercial Fisheries

摘要

The objective of the analysis is the development of a methodological approach that would permit a more complete evaluation of the physical and economic consequences of prohibited species by-catch (PSC) losses, such as occur in the harvest of groundfish. To achieve efficient management of the several marine species involved in the groundfish and associated PSC controversy, U.S. regulatory authorities sought to obtain estimates of the probable economic and physical impacts attributable to these harvesting activities. The present analysis hypothesizes that substantial latent economic costs, associated with losses in reproductive potential, are also attributable to PSCs and incorrectly ignored by previous assessment methodologies. To test this assertion an alternative methodology was developed and empirically applied to the case of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus ssp.) PSCs in the Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries. These results confirm the presence of the hypothesized long-run adverse economic impacts on directed salmon fisheries associated with a single season's PSC interception.