The fishing industry and Pacific coastal communities : understanding the assessment of economic impacts

People interested in economic stability or economic development in coastal communities are often interest­ed in estimating the impact of changes or proposed changes on the economy. Such changes may result from plans, policies, or projects of public agencies, or from marketing strategies of private businesses. In coastal communities where fisheries are important, changes in fish availability due to regulatory or natural causes, closures of fish processing plants, and the development of fishing vessel facilities are examples of typical changes with important impacts on local economies. Local citizens are also interested in forecasting changes in business activity, employment, population, and public service demands. Economic input/output (1/0) models are often used to estimate the impact of resource changes or to calculate the contributions of an industry to local economies. This publication is designed both as an introduction to input/output models and as a guide to the proper use of economic impact terminology. The use of economic jargon is minimized, and a glossary is included on page 9. This publication grew out of concerns about the lack of understanding and improper use of input/output (1/0) models. This lack of understanding or misuse of 1/0 models is especially troublesome in situations where groups with opposing views come up with very different estimates of economic impacts. In an attempt to clarify the use of 1/0 models, the Pacific Sea Grant College Program and the Pacific Fishery Management Council held a workshop in February 1986 to discuss 1/0 models. Participants included resource economists, fishing industry representatives, and fisheries managers. This publication is one of the products of that workshop

Distinguishing the Impacts of Inadequate Prey and Vessel Traffic on an Endangered Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Population

Managing endangered species often involves evaluating the relative impacts of multiple anthropogenic and ecological pressures. This challenge is particularly formidable for cetaceans, which spend the majority of their time underwater. Noninvasive physiological approaches can be especially informative in this regard. We used a combination of fecal thyroid (T3) and glucocorticoid (GC) hormone measures to assess two threats influencing the endangered southern resident killer whales (SRKW; Orcinus orca) that frequent the inland waters of British Columbia, Canada and Washington, U.S.A. Glucocorticoids increase in response to nutritional and psychological stress, whereas thyroid hormone declines in response to nutritional stress but is unaffected by psychological stress. The inadequate prey hypothesis argues that the killer whales have become prey limited due to reductions of their dominant prey, Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). The vessel impact hypothesis argues that high numbers of vessels in close proximity to the whales cause disturbance via psychological stress and/or impaired foraging ability. The GC and T3 measures supported the inadequate prey hypothesis. In particular, GC concentrations were negatively correlated with short-term changes in prey availability. Whereas, T3 concentrations varied by date and year in a manner that corresponded with more long-term prey availability. Physiological correlations with prey overshadowed any impacts of vessels since GCs were lowest during the peak in vessel abundance, which also coincided with the peak in salmon availability. Our results suggest that identification and recovery of strategic salmon populations in the SRKW diet are important to effectively promote SRKW recovery

The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems

This paper compares and contrasts the ecosystems of the Barents and Chukchi Seas. Despite their similarity in a number of features, the Barents Sea supports a vast biomass of commercially important fish, but the Chukchi does not. Here we examine a number of aspects of these two seas to ascertain how they are similar and how they differ. We then indentify processes and mechanisms that may be responsible for their similarities and differences.Both the Barents and Chukchi Seas are high latitude, seasonally ice covered, Arctic shelf-seas. Both have strongly advective regimes, and receive water from the south. Water entering the Barents comes from the deep, ice-free and "warm" Norwegian Sea, and contains not only heat, but also a rich supply of zooplankton that supports larval fish in spring. In contrast, Bering Sea water entering the Chukchi in spring and early summer is cold. In spring, this Bering Sea water is depleted of large, lipid-rich zooplankton, thus likely resulting in a relatively low availability of zooplankton for fish. Although primary production on average is similar in the two seas, fish biomass density is an order of magnitude greater in the Barents than in the Chukchi Sea. The Barents Sea supports immense fisheries, whereas the Chukchi Sea does not. The density of cetaceans in the Barents Sea is about double that in the Chukchi Sea, as is the density of nesting seabirds, whereas, the density of pinnipeds in the Chukchi is about double that in the Barents Sea. In the Chukchi Sea, export of carbon to the benthos and benthic biomass may be greater. We hypothesize that the difference in fish abundance in the two seas is driven by differences in the heat and plankton advected into them, and the amount of primary production consumed in the upper water column. However, we suggest that the critical difference between the Chukchi and Barents Seas is the pre-cooled water entering the Chukchi Sea from the south. This cold water, and the winter mixing of the Chukchi Sea as it becomes ice covered, result in water temperatures below the physiological limits of the commercially valuable fish that thrive in the southeastern Bering Sea. If climate change warms the Barents Sea, thereby increasing the open water area via reducing ice cover, productivity at most trophic levels is likely to increase. In the Chukchi, warming should also reduce sea ice cover, permitting a longer production season. However, the shallow northern Bering and Chukchi Seas are expected to continue to be ice-covered in winter, so water there will continue to be cold in winter and spring, and is likely to continue to be a barrier to the movement of temperate fish into the Chukchi Sea. Thus, it is unlikely that large populations of boreal fish species will become established in this Arctic marginal sea. © 2012 Elsevier B.V

Pacific Fishery Management Council SIGNATURE TITLE

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Discussion paper on cooperative vessel use caps Bering Sea /Aleutian Islands crab DISCUSSION PAPER ON COOPERATIVE VESSEL USE CAPS

Fishery Management Council for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab fisheries. In recent years preceding implementation of the program, in excess of 200 vessels typically participated in the Bristol Bay red king crab, while over 150 vessels typically participated in the Bering Sea C. opilio fishery. In the first year of fishing under the new rationalization program, fewer than 100 vessels participated in each of these fisheries. Under the rationalization program, the amount of crab that may be caught by a vessel is limited to a percent of the annual TAC. Vessels fishing cooperative allocations, however, are exempt from the limit. The large, rapid drop in the number of participating vessels has caused concern for economic and social disruptions in coastal communities, as well as effects on crew employment. Community disruption could occur through a few different means. Fishery support business could lose revenues, if a decline in demand for their goods and services accompanies the decline in vessels in the crab fisheries. Overall economic activity in communities may decline, if local purchases by either resident or non-resident crewmembers decline. Reduction in crew jobs could also contribute to social disruptions in remote communities, if resident crew who lose jobs are unable to find alternative employment locally. Because the considered action relates to the recent change in management of the fishery, this paper must describe transitional changes in the fishery arising from that management change. The breadth of discussion a