Economic and Management Benefits from the Coordination of Capture and Culture Fisheries: The Case of Prince William Sound Pink Salmon

Abstract

"Aquacultural developments often create policy conflicts with established fisheries when the two are not coordinated through a common planning framework. The state of Alaska and community-based, fisher-led salmon aquaculture associations have been unusually successful at coordinating, through cooperative management, the transitional salmon capture fisheries with the new salmon culture fisheries for pink salmon, despite predictable problems. The Prince William sound Aquaculture Corporation in particular has moved from its original involvement in resource enhancement into partnership with the state in harvest planning, allocation, and comprehensive regional planning. Some of the specific economic benefits and the general management benefits of this institutional arrangement are explored. One economic benefit was an 8-year period of price advantage for the association's cost recovery fish because of large and consistent volume and quality. The ecological, political, and institutional conditions that made these developments possible are analyzed."