IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cpp/issued/v29y2003i1p73-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Policy Analysis of the BC Salmon Fishery

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Schwindt
  • Aidan R. Vining
  • David Weimer

Abstract

Between 1996 and 2001 the Government of Canada implemented a multi-million dollar program to restructure and revitalize the British Columbia wild salmon fishery in order to avoid an economic and ecological collapse. This paper provides a brief history of BC salmon fishery policy with emphasis on the restructuring of the 1990s, documents the current state of the fishery, and provides an analysis of four policy options: the current, restructured fishery; a licence auction and landings tax regime; the allocation of river-specific, exclusive ownership and harvesting rights (with cooperative ownership on the Fraser River); and the implementation of individual transferable harvesting quotas (ITQs). Each policy is evaluated in terms of three major goals: economic efficiency, resource preservation, and equity. The analysis indicates that river-specific, exclusive ownership rights together with cooperative ownership on the Fraser are most likely to achieve the best mix of these goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Schwindt & Aidan R. Vining & David Weimer, 2003. "A Policy Analysis of the BC Salmon Fishery," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 29(1), pages 73-93, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpp:issued:v:29:y:2003:i:1:p:73-93
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0317-0861%28200303%2929%3A1%3C73%3AAPAOTB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
    Download Restriction: only available to JSTOR subscribers
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 9, pages 178-203, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. R. Preston McAfee & John McMillan, 1996. "Analyzing the Airwaves Auction," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 159-175, Winter.
    3. R. Quentin Grafton & Daniel E. Lane, 1998. "Canadian Fisheries Policy: Challenges and Choices," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 24(2), pages 133-147, June.
    4. Anthony Scott, 1955. "The Fishery: The Objectives of Sole Ownership," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(2), pages 116-116.
    5. David Feeny & Susan Hanna & Arthur F. McEvoy, 1996. "Questioning the Assumptions of the "Tragedy of the Commons" Model of Fisheries," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 72(2), pages 187-205.
    6. Erling Moxnes, 1998. "Not Only the Tragedy of the Commons: Misperceptions of Bioeconomics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(9), pages 1234-1248, September.
    7. Johnson, Ronald N & Libecap, Gary D, 1982. "Contracting Problems and Regulation: The Case of the Fishery," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 1005-1022, December.
    8. Elinor Ostrom & Roy Gardner, 1993. "Coping with Asymmetries in the Commons: Self-Governing Irrigation Systems Can Work," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 93-112, Fall.
    9. Grafton, R Quentin & Squires, Dale & Fox, Kevin J, 2000. "Private Property and Economic Efficiency: A Study of a Common-Pool Resource," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(2), pages 679-713, October.
    10. Dupont, Diane P., 1990. "Rent dissipation in restricted access fisheries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 26-44, July.
    11. A. Bruce Arai, 1994. "Policy and Practice in the Atlantic Fisheries: Problems of Regulatory Enforcement," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 20(4), pages 353-364, December.
    12. Agnello, Richard J & Donnelley, Lawrence P, 1975. "Property Rights and Efficiency in the Oyster Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 521-533, October.
    13. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(2), pages 124-124.
    14. Francis, R. I. C. C. & Gilbert, D. J. & Annala, J. H., 1993. "Fishery management by individual quotas: theory and practice," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 64-65, January.
    15. Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney, 1992. "Economic Incentives and the Containment of Global Warming," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 85-98, Winter.
    16. Kathleen A. Miller, 1996. "Salmon Stock Variability And The Political Economy Of The Pacific Salmon Treaty," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(3), pages 112-129, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elinor Ostrom, 1989. "Microconstitutional Change in Multiconstitutional Political Systems," Rationality and Society, , vol. 1(1), pages 11-50, July.
    2. Jongwook Kim & Joseph T. Mahoney, 2002. "Resource-based and property rights perspectives on value creation: the case of oil field unitization," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4-5), pages 225-245.
    3. Gary D. Libecap, 2018. "Douglass C. North: Transaction Costs, Property Rights, and Economic Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 24585, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Gary D. Libecap, 2018. "Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism," NBER Working Papers 24544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Terry L. Anderson & Ragnar Arnason & Gary D. Libecap, 2010. "Efficiency Advantages of Grandfathering in Rights-Based Fisheries Management," NBER Working Papers 16519, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Catherine J. Morrison Paul & Ronald G. Felthoven & Marcelo de O. Torres, 2010. "Productive performance in fisheries: modeling, measurement, and management," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(3), pages 343-360, July.
    7. Catherine Benjamin & Hervé Guyomard, 1996. "Analyse des modes de régulation publique des pêcheries : applicabilité d'un système de quotas individuels transférables à l'Union européenne," Working Papers hal-01897091, HAL.
    8. Berck, Peter & Costello, Christopher, 2000. "Overharvesting the traditional fishery with a captured regulator," CUDARE Working Papers 43915, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    9. Gary D. Libecap, 2009. "The tragedy of the commons: property rights and markets as solutions to resource and environmental problems," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 53(1), pages 129-144, January.
    10. Fischer, Maria-Elisabeth & Irlenbusch, Bernd & Sadrieh, Abdolkarim, 2004. "An intergenerational common pool resource experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 811-836, September.
    11. Ben Yu & Daigee Shaw & Tsu-Tan Fu & Lawrence Lai, 2000. "Property rights and contractual approach to sustainable development," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 3(3), pages 291-309, September.
    12. Burton, Peter S., 2003. "Community enforcement of fisheries effort restrictions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(2, Supple), pages 474-491, March.
    13. Libecap, Gary D., 2007. "The Assignment of Property Rights on the Western Frontier: Lessons for Contemporary Environmental and Resource Policy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(2), pages 257-291, June.
    14. H. Stouten & A. Heene & X. Gellynck & H. Polet, 2008. "The effect of restrictive policy instruments on Belgian fishing fleet dynamics," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 08/540, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    15. Newell, Richard G. & Sanchirico, James N. & Kerr, Suzi, 2005. "Fishing quota markets," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 437-462, May.
    16. Costello, Christopher & Polasky, Stephen, 2008. "Optimal harvesting of stochastic spatial resources," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 1-18, July.
    17. Koundouri, Phoebe & Laukkanen, Marita, 2004. "Stochastic Production in a Regulated Fishery:The Importance of Risk Considerations," MPRA Paper 41912, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Ian Keay & Cherie Metcalf, 2011. "Property Rights, Resource Access, and Long‐Run Growth," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(4), pages 792-829, December.
    19. Smith, Martin D. & Zhang, Junjie & Coleman, Felicia C., 2008. "Econometric modeling of fisheries with complex life histories: Avoiding biological management failures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 265-280, May.
    20. De Alessi, Michael & Sullivan, Joseph M. & Hilborn, Ray, 2014. "The legal, regulatory, and institutional evolution of fishing cooperatives in Alaska and the West Coast of the United States," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 217-225.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpp:issued:v:29:y:2003:i:1:p:73-93. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Iver Chong The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Iver Chong to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.utpjournals.press/loi/cpp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.