Resource Ecology & Fisheries Management (REFM) Division

Economics & Social Sciences Research Program

New Research Funding

The Economics and Social Sciences Research Program (ESSRP) was awarded approximately $275,000 in new research funds for socioeconomic projects for FY05. These include three data collection projects: 1) to collect information for input in regional economic models; 2) to begin understanding aspects of the Bering Sea fishing operations (a Bering Sea operations survey); and 3) to complete community profiles for fishing communities in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California.

Other projects include: 1) a project to develop an integrated regional economic-ecological model of Alaskan fisheries; 2) a project to measure the productivity changes in the offshore Alaska catcher-processor fleet; and 3) a project to convert historical employment data for Alaska fisheries to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), a new system for classifying economic activity.

Other Activities

Center economists worked with the NMFS Alaska Regional Office to implement the final rule for the Bering Sea Crab Rationalization Program and finalized the Economic Data Reports (EDR) that will be used to collect historic data for the fisheries for 1998, 2001, and 2004. The reports will be mailed to the parties that landed or processed crab during those years. The data collected within the EDRs will be used to establish a baseline in evaluating the effects of this novel and controversial program.

Harrison Fell, a graduate student in the Economics Department at the University of Washington, began work that analyzes the market demand and supply of the commercial Alaska pollock fishery. Fell has also recently been awarded a 2-year NMFS fellowship to continue this work, which will form the basis of his doctoral dissertation.

By Ron Felthoven

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AFSC Quarterly Research Reports Jan-Mar 2005