Economics
Specific costs associated with the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program range from distribution of funds to agencies involved in operation and implementation of the program to payments to anglers for catching certain sized fish. There are economic benefits provided by the program including increased salmon surviving to adulthood and the associated benefits such as money brought in to local economies.
Budget
Table 2 Annual Pikeminnow Reward Program Budget
- The annual budget for the program has varied from $2.0 to $6.4 million, with an average cost of about $3.0 million.
- We calculated that the program has an overall cost of $78.2 million since its beginning.
- This amount provides yearly support to cooperating agencies that implement and oversee the program. Reward payments, biological monitoring for program effectiveness, and detailed records reciting number of fish removed are incorporated into the annual budget.
The Cost of A Salmon
Table 3. Cost of Migration Improvements. Reproduced from IEAB (2011).
- The cost of saving one juvenile due to the NPSRP can be calculated using the $3 million average budget and dividing it by the estimated 3.2 million salmonids saved.
- The resulting number is 94 cents per saved juvenile salmonid.
- Cost for one individual returning adult to the Columbia River basin is calculated using estimated consumption of salmonids by pikeminnow, the number of returning adult salmon and annual costs of the program for a total expense of $60.33 per adult saved.
- The difference between the cost per salmon due to the program and the cost of a fish sold at market is $15.23. If the number of salmonids saved due to the program is known, this number can be used to better analyze program economic costs and benefits.
- The cost per 1% savings of juvenile salmonids equals $2.9 million and compares favorably to other downstream migration improvement actions.
Regional Economic Impacts
Figure 14. Fisherman with salmon.
- Regional economic impacts (REI) include activity from the pikeminnow fishery, economic activity from administration of the program as well as the economic activity brought to local economies by fishing for adult salmonids in the system.
- $2.8 million will generate around $2.1 million in regional economic impacts with $1.4 million of this in the economies where northern pikeminnow fishing occurs.
- In total, fishing for northern pikeminnow and anadromous fish may create up to $13.4 million in REI, an equivalent of 446 full time positions at $30,000 each (Radtke et al. 2004).