Balancing biological sustainability with the economic needs of Alaska's sockeye salmon fisheries

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009"The total revenue of the Bristol Bay, Alaska sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, fishery has continued to decline despite strong run sizes. This decline is primarily attributed to increases in production of farmed Chilean rainbow trout O. mykiss and coho salmon, O. kisutch. Although wild salmon managers have less control over production than salmon farmers, there may be some opportunity to regain value to the fishery by altering management strategies. To explore this potential, we first simulated three management strategies for sockeye salmon: a fixed escapement range strategy, a fixed harvest strategy and a fixed harvest rate strategy. Yields from these simulations were then combined with a forecast of farmed Chilean trout and salmon production and a model of international trade flows for Alaskan sockeye and Chilean coho salmon and rainbow trout to generate forecasts of exvessel price and total revenue for 2010. All three management strategies were able to achieve a run size equilibrium indicating biological sustainability. The highest median yield resulted from the fixed escapement strategy and the lowest median yield was generated by the fixed harvest strategy. Exvessel prices and total revenue were highest under the fixed harvest strategy. These results demonstrate a switch to an inelastic market environment and reveal the need to modify current management strategies to improve the economic health of the fishery"--Leaf iiiAlaska Sea Grant, project number ASG 05-02General introduction -- 1. Alternative management strategies for Bristol Bay sockeye salmon to improve economic stability -- 2. Exploring the effect of Chilean production of farmed salmon and trout and on the value of Alaskan sockeye salmon -- General conclusion -- Appendix: time series analysis of spawner-recruit relationships