Sustaining North American Salmon: Perspectives Across Regions and Disciplines

Chapter 10: Uses of Resource Economics in Managing Great Lakes Fisheries: Michigan Examples

Frank Lupi and Douglas B. Jester

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569254.ch10

Though economics can be broadly considered the study of resource allocation (Swanson and McCollum 1991), here we focus on concepts from the field of natural resource and environmental economics. For brevity, we refer to the field as resource economics. The purpose of this chapter is to review several examples of how resource economics has contributed to the management of Great Lakes salmonid fisheries. The intent is to use salmon management examples to highlight various principles of resource economics. The chapter is not meant to be a comprehensive review of resource economics, nor is it an exact history of fishery management in the Great Lakes. Rather, it is a mix of brief case studies in which economics played a role in a salmonid or related fishery management decision. Given the experience and background of the authors, the examples focus on Michigan’s waters of the Great Lakes.