| The dissertation consists of three manuscripts concerned with the problem of allocating scarce natural resources. The first two pertain to the management of the Bering Sea crab stocks. The third deals with the allocation of water resources in the Snake River basin.; Manuscript 1. Postseason commercial fisheries data are used to statistically estimate a catch per unit effort - soak time relationship for the 1991–1993 and 1996–1997 Bristol Bay red king crab fishery. The use of commercial fishery data allows the estimated relationships to reflect diverse and year-specific conditions that crabbers face. Deficiencies characteristic of commercial fishery data are dealt with by data pooling guided by recursive estimation/hypothesis testing.; Manuscript 2. Previously estimated catch per unit effort - soak time relationships are used in the simulation of the Bristol Bay red king crab fleet behavior. Vessels are modeled as maximizing profit, when there is an open access to the fishery. The simulation model is developed to address the effectiveness of pot limit regulations in slowing down the fishery and facilitating the management of its stocks. Results indicate that although pot limits can potentially elongate season lengths, their effectiveness in doing so is dependent on year-specific catch conditions. Ironically, the years that would need significant season elongations are the ones the least responsive to pot limits.; Manuscript 3. The listing of salmon as endangered species in the Snake River Basin has resulted in salmon recovery proposals to augment stream flows in the Upper Snake River. Increased flows could be obtained from reducing irrigation water diversions. Positive Mathematical Programming models of the regional agricultural economy are developed to assess the economic impact of alternative proposed scenarios. A lower bound on the loss in value of irrigated production to the Snake River Basin is estimated at 47.6 million dollars, while the upper bound is estimated at 93 million dollars. The loss of net revenue per acre-foot of water shortage would range from {dollar}6 to {dollar}10. |
