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.

An encyclopedic documentary on the Pacific halibut and its fishery, including international agreements.

Atlantic halibut and Pacific halibut off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America share many biological characteristics. The conventional separation of the halibut into separate species is not uniformly accepted. Reproduction and early life history are nearly identical, although the extensive drift of Pacific halibut eggs and larvae and countermigration as juveniles have not been demonstrated for the Atlantic halibut. Adult halibut undergo migration from winter spawning grounds along the upper continental slope to summer feeding grounds on the continental shelf. The two halibuts show the same pattern of age and growth. They exhibit different trophic selectivity, as small Atlantic halibut consume a higher proportion of invertebrates as samll fish and large Atlantic halibut consume a higher proportion of fish, compared to Pacific halibut. Halibut management in the Atlantic and Pacific varies dramatically. Atlantic halibut in Canada were managed with other groundfish until 1988 and are not managed in the United States. Pacific halibut have been managed by an international commission under treaty between the United States and Canada since 1923. Atlantic halibut have produced from 1000 to 5000 t annually, mainly off Canada, while Pacific halibut have produced 12,000 to 45,000 t, mainly off Alaska. Biological and fishery data are collected more extensively for the Pacific halibut, for which detailed stock assessment is conducted.

Problems confronting fishermen on the west coast of the United States.

This conference proceedings presents an overview of the major economic and institutional issues associated with rebuilding fisheries and provides examples of national and international initiatives.