Using Participation Data to Estimate Fishing Costs for Commercial Salmon Fisheries in Alaska

Abstract

This paper estimates the fishing costs and the returns to fishing for nine commercial salmon fleets in Alaska. The econometric model uses a two-stage least squares estimation procedure to estimate the effect of congestion and heterogeneity on the returns to fishermen. The hypotheses that fishermen are homogenous and that there is no congestion externality present in the fisheries are strongly rejected. The data indicates that fishermen are quite heterogeneous in fishing skill levels. This difference accounts for the overall estimates of positive net returns to the common property fisheries. Estimates of the net returns to the fisheries suggest that the returns to different gear types vary largely. The set net fleets are found to have the highest return as a percentage of total revenues.Fishing costs, econometric model, heterogeneity, skill rents, commercial salmon fisheries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics,