UW Aquatic & Fishery Sciences Quantitative Seminar

Brandon Chasco

UW School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences

Estimating changes in fleet capacity: determining the factors contributing to vessel upgrading in the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery

Abstract

The Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery is an example of a well managed and biologically sustainable fishery. However, it has become unprofitable for many of the fishermen to participate in the fishery due to the decreasing value of the fish in recent years, over-capitalization of the fleet, and increasing fixed costs. One suggestion for increasing the profitability of the fishery is to reduce the number of fishermen through a permit buy-back, but the question of which permit holders should be the focus of the buy-back remains. Our research is currently focusing on building an individual-based model to address the outcomes of different buy-back scenarios.