The Copper River hosts one of the largest natural runs of sockeye and king salmon anywhere in the world. At its mouth is a large delta where commercial fishermen from Cordova, Yakutat, and elsewhere congregate to net returning salmon. Farther inland, the river and its major tributaries pass close to the state's highway system. It is here that personal-use, sport, and subsistence fishermen gather to harvest migrating salmon. Not surprisingly, allocation of the limited salmon resource among these groups is a contentious issue.
Economic analysis can assist policy makers in the decision-making process.
While other studies have examined the economic impact of the river's commercial and sport fisheries, no such studies have been done on the subsistence and personal-use fisheries. This study will assess those two segments of the Copper River salmon fishery. When salmon return to their home streams or lakes to spawn and die, their bodies decompose and release nutrients into the water, which help nourish the next generation of salmon. One of these nutrients is nitrogen. Scientists have shown they can deduce the size of past salmon runs by measuring the amount of N15 left in the sediments.