Jon Olaf Olaussen

MANAGING A MIGRATORY SPECIES THAT IS BOTH A VALUE AND PEST

Wild animals can represent both value and nuisance. We consider the moose (Alces alces), which due to seasonal migration causes browsing damage in some areas, while creating hunting value in other areas. We first explore a situation when harvesting, following today’s practice in Norway, only takes place in the fall. Next, the season is extended to include winter harvesting. It is shown how this redistributes harvesting benefits between areas and landowners, and under which conditions total net benefit increases. The model is illustrated by a real life example from the Swe-Nor moose region some 250 kilometers north of Oslo, Norway. (JEL Q26)

On the willingness-to-pay for recreational fishing-escaped farmed versus wild Atlantic salmon.

This article explores to what extent escaped farmed salmon from fish farms affect the willingness-to-pay for recreational fishing of Atlantic salmon in Norwegian rivers. This is a first attempt to explore the economic consequences of escaped farmed species in terms of the anglers’ willingness-to-pay for fishing permits working through the relationship between the price of fishing permits and the share of escaped farmed salmon. The empirical analysis is based on the results from a contingent valuation survey conducted in Norway. It is found that the presence of escaped farmed salmon in Norwegian rivers may have severe economic consequences on the willingness-to-pay for recreational fishing with a reduction of up to 85% compared to a situation with a ‘pure’ wild salmon stock.

A Bioeconomic Analysis of a Wild Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Recreational Fishery

A biomass model of a wild salmon (Salmo salar) river recreational fishery is formulated, and the ways in which economic and biological conditions influence harvesting, stock size, profitability, and the benefit of the anglers are studied. The demand for recreational angling is met by fishing permits supplied by myopic profit-maximizing landowners. Both price-taking and monopolistic supply is studied. These schemes are contrasted with an overall river management regime. Gear regulations in the recreational fishery, but also the commercial fishery, are analysed under the various management scenarios, and the paper concludes with some policy implications. One novel result is that imposing gear restrictions in the recreational fishery may have the exact opposite stock effects of imposing restrictions on the marine harvest.

Red deer hunting—commercializing versus availability

Many deer populations in Europe and North America have increased in abundance over the last decades. The increasing populations potentially entail both ecological and economic challenges and opportunities, but in practice we still know little about the extent to which these opportunities are being exploited in different management systems. The Norwegian red deer population has increased in density and expanded rapidly since the 1950s. Traditionally, red deer hunting has been undertaken by the local landowner and his relatives and friends. The present large population raises the question whether attracting other hunters could provide a higher economic return for the landowners and, if so, if they are interested in providing such hunting opportunities. We designed a survey to learn more about the landowners, both with respect to the present level of hunting income as well as economic costs of, for example, forest and agricultural damage; we also sought to understand their interest in increasing their income from red deer hunting and potential obstacles to realizing such an increased economic benefit. The results indicate that landowners on average think that red deer populations on their land result in higher costs than income but are nevertheless satisfied with the way things are. This highlights that increased numbers of deer need not automatically lead to more income for landowners and that the potential for income may be hindered by cultural factors such as reluctance to allow access to non-local hunters.

Bandwagon or Snob Anglers? Evidence from Atlantic Salmon Recreational Fishing

Abstract Social interaction and crowding are reported to be important determinants of recreational outdoor activities. As both are determined by the total number of simultaneous participants in the recreational activity, the effect of increasing the number of participants is generally ambiguous. An analogue to Leibensteins (1950) bandwagon and snob effect in demand is presented, and these theoretical models are extended to allow for different congestion effects at different congestion levels. Empirical evidence from a contingent valuation (CV) study on Norwegian recreational Atlantic salmon fishing demonstrates that the crowding effect dominates the social interaction effect for all levels of congestion. Moreover, the marginal crowding effect is found to be diminishing. JEL Classification Codes: Q21, Q22, Q26

FISHY FISH? THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ESCAPED FARMED FISH

The escape of cultured fish from a marine aquaculture facility is a type of biological invasion that may lead to a variety of potential ecological and economic effects on native fish. This article develops a general invasive species impact model to capture explicitly both the ecological and economic effects of invasive species, especially escaped farmed fish, on native populations and harvests. First, the possible effects of escaped farmed fish on the growth and stock size of a native fish are examined. Next, a bioeconomic model to analyze changes in yield, benefit distribution, and overall profitability is constructed. Different harvesting scenarios, such as commercial, recreational, and joint commercial and recreational fishing are explored. The model is illustrated by a case study of the interaction between native and farmed Atlantic salmon in Norway. The results suggest that both the harvest and profitability of a native fish stock may decline after an invasion, but the total profits from the harvest of both native and farmed stocks may increase or decrease, depending on the strength of the ecological and economic parameters.

On the tragedy of the commons: When predation and livestock loss may improve the economic lot of herders

This paper studies the practice of semi-domestic reindeer (Rangifer t. tarandus) herding in Finnmark county in northern Norway. In this area, the Saami reindeer herders compete for space and grazing areas and keep large herds, while at the same time, the reindeer population is heavily exposed to carnivore predation by the lynx (Lynx lynx), the wolverine (Gulo gulo), and the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). It is demonstrated that predation actually may improve the economic lot of livestock holders in this unmanaged local common setting. There are ecological as well as economic reasons as to why this happens. The ecological reason is that predation compensates for natural mortality; that is, increased predation reduces natural mortality, indicating that the net loss due to predation actually may be quite small. When predation reduces livestock density, the feeding conditions of the animals will improve, resulting in increased livestock weight and higher per animal slaughter value. At the same time, a smaller stock reduces the operating costs of the herders.