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The Economics of Marine Resources and Conservation Policy

The Pacific Halibut Case Study with Commentary

How can we manage a so-called "renewable" natural resource such as a fishery when we don’t know how renewable it really is? James A. Crutchfield and Arnold Zellner developed a dynamic and highly successful economic approach to this problem, drawing on extensive data from the Pacific halibut industry. Although the U.S. Department of the Interior published a report about their findings in 1962, it had very limited distribution and is now long out of print.

This book presents a complete reprint of Crutchfield and Zellner’s pioneering study, together with a new introduction by the authors and four new papers by other scholars. These new studies cover the history of the Pacific halibut industry as well as the general and specific contributions of the original work—such as price-oriented conservation policy—to the fields of resource economics and management. The resulting volume integrates theory and practice in a clear, well-contextualized case study that will be important not just for environmental and resource economists, but also for leaders of industries dependent on any natural resource.

42 pages | 6 line drawings, 3 tables | 8-1/2 x 11 | © 2002

Biological Sciences: Conservation

Economics and Business: Economics--Agriculture and Natural Resources

Geography: Environmental Geography

Table of Contents

Introduction and Overview
Economic Aspects of the Pacific Halibut Fishery
Part I. Basic Theory of Regulation and Its Application to Halibut Fishery
1. Pacific Halibut Fishery
2. Theoretical Basis for Management
3. Objectives of Fishery Management
4. History of Regulation of the Halibut Fishery
Part II. Economic Effects of the Halibut Program
5. General Effects of the Halibut Program
6. Analysis of Port Pricing of Halibut: Theoretical Considerations
7. Analysis of Port Pricing of Halibut: Empirical Results
8. Economic Survey of Boats and Fishermen
Part III. Conclusions from Analysis and Implications for Public Policy
9. Economic Status of the Halibut Fishery
10. Summary of Economic Performance
11. Policy Implications
Appendixes
Commentary
1. The Crutchfield and Zellner Monograph and the Evolution of Environmental and Resource Economics
David Zilberman
2. Price-Oriented Management and the Pacific Halibut
Anthony Scott
3. Crutchfield and Zellner on Exvessel Price Determination in the Pacific Halibut Fishery
James E. Wilen and Frances R. Homans
4. The Halibut Fishery
Donald McCaughran
Index

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