Implications of Private Salmon Aquaculture on Prices, Production, and Management of Salmon Resources

TLDR: In this article, the authors model the behavior of a dominant salmon rancher facing a competitive open access fishery using a dynamic nonlinear programming model and evaluate the effect of such behavior with regard to salmon prices, natural salmon stocks, ocean fishing effort, and ocean fishery productivity.

Abstract: The emergence of large‐scale salmon ranching in the Pacific Northwest has led to significant controversy over the potential impact of salmon ranching on market structure, salmon prices, ocean and aquacultural production, and salmon fishing regulation. This paper models the behavior of a dominant salmon rancher facing a competitive open‐access fishery using a dynamic nonlinear programming model. Primary attention is given to production and regulation‐influencing strategies of an optimally managed salmon ranch under selected institutional and biological constraints. The effect of such behavior is evaluated with regard to salmon prices, natural salmon stocks, ocean fishing effort, and ocean fishery productivity.