Many Pacific salmon populations have declined to levels that have prompted their listing under the Endangered Species Act. In order to protect these populations and provide harvest opportunities for recreational anglers, the fishery is often managed with separate regulations for wild and hatchery salmon. This article examines how the value of recreational fishing is affected by changes in wild and hatchery salmon regulations and catch rates in the Northwest region of the US. Using a discrete choice experiment, we estimate saltwater fishing trip preferences. We integrate the estimated preferences with auxiliary creel data in order to conduct simulations of willingness to pay that vary in bag limits and catch rates, conditioning on current fishery conditions. We find statistically significant differences between the recreational values for wild and hatchery salmon, and our simulations highlight the fact that these differences depend on baseline levels of catch rates and bag limits.

JEL Classification Codes: Q26, Q51, Q57