Cumulative 

 Temperature 



■j = 2.1699 



(Thousands) 



Figure 2. — Observed relationships between food and cumulative 

 temperature units (November through April). 



This information will be made available to 

 hatchery management through an Oregon 

 State University Marine Economics publication. 



Concluding Comments on the 

 Hatchery Production Function 



Several strengths and qualifications of our 

 research became clearer as the work progress- 

 ed. The principal strength is that our conven- 

 tional cross-sectional analysis of "firms" can 

 be useful to public decisionmakers in spite 

 of their "unconventional" incentive frame- 

 works. Our principal lesson in methodology 

 has been that differences within frameworks 

 of the various agencies may be more crucial 

 than differences between those of private and 

 public firms if the researcher's objective is to 

 provide a substantial empirical input. In retro- 

 spect, had we included a number of agencies 

 in our study, it may have been possible to esti- 

 mate additional substitution relationships. If 

 our limited empirical results are useful to 

 management agencies, however, we may have 

 opened the door for a data system reorganiz- 

 ation which will both allow for improved eco- 

 nomic analysis and facilitate consideration of 

 a broader range of production alternatives. 



Our policy advice is accordingly limited by 

 the methodological constraints of this study. 

 Constant returns from hatchery operations 

 may exist, ceteris paribus, but the latter may 

 not be a very legitimate assumption when un- 

 certainty exists as to downstream environ- 

 mental conditions. Agencies could, for example, 

 spread production over many small hatcheries 

 located on different streams, but it may be 

 more desirable to construct fewer and larger 

 hatcheries if environmental protection can be 

 assured on specific streams. 



SOME IMPLICATIONS OF INCREASED 



HATCHERY PROPAGATION FOR 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 



Associated Harvesting Costs 



The principal limitation on policy advice 

 stemming from our research is, of course, 

 whether or not increased efficiency at the hatch- 

 ery level necessarily leads to increased effic- 

 iency at the fishery level. The problems of 

 open-access in U.S. commercial fisheries are 

 well known to this group and will not be re- 

 peated here (Christy and Scott, 1966 and 



139 



