Estimating Post-harvest Benefits from Increases in Commercial Fish Catches with Implications for Remediation of Impingement and Entrainment Losses at Power Plants

A variety of regulations may affect commercial fish catches. We take here as a case in point steps to reduce losses of aquatic organisms due to impingement and entrainment (I&E) at power plants. Methods to evaluate the benefits of such measures are needed for benefit-cost analysis. We use a new approach to estimating ex vessel demand by Holt and Bishop (2002) to address the portion of the benefits that occur post-harvest, that is, down the marketing chain after fishermen sell their catches. The model deals with the dockside prices and quantities for six major commercial species harvested from the U.S. Great Lakes. We use the model to explore the potential magnitude of post-harvest benefits for Great Lakes fisheries. We then turn to a possible approach to benefits transfer for cases where such a model is not available. A semi-realistic case example involving I&E losses to Great Lakes fisheries illustrates how benefits transfer would work.