PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF SEA RANCHING WITH ATLANTIC SALMON (SALMO-SALAR), ARCTIC CHARR (SALVELINUS-ALPINUS), AND EUROPEAN LOBSTER (HOMARUS-GAMMARUS) IN NORWAY

The Norwegian Sea Ranching Program (PUSH, acronym for Program for Utvi kling og Stimulering av Havbeite) was started in 1990 and is scheduled to terminate by the end of 1997. The program has focused on four spec ies: Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), cod (Gadus morhua), and European lobster (Homarus gammarus), with the main objective of examining both the biological and economic basis fo r sea ranching. In the present study, profitability analyses have been conducted by the net present value (NPV) method and application of av ailable data :ti om a research program. From the results, we conclude that sea ranching of Arctic charr will not be economically profitable at the present juvenile costs, recapture rate, and market price and th at this conclusion is unlikely to change in the near future. For Atlan tic salmon the activity will be profitable only if the present recaptu re rate more than doubles, to approximately 10%. On the basis of the p resent juvenile cost, recapture rate, and market price for European lo bster, the analyses show negative net present values. These results in dicate that, to reach profitability, juvenile lobster production costs must be reduced 50% and the release strategy simultaneously optimized to increase the recapture rate to approximately 15%.