Salmon and Hydropower: Dynamic Cost-Benefit Analysis

We present a cost-benefit framework to analyze the interaction between hydropower and salmon in a dynamic context. The framework is used to derive cost-benefit rules for projects that affect wild salmon survival. Our approach is illustrated with data from an ongoing project regarding a potential salmon passage-hydropower conflict in the northern Swedish river Umeälven and its largest salmon producing tributary Vindelälven. Daily water flow data are combined with daily data on the number of salmon that pass the hydropower plant Stornorrfors. The data is used to study the opportunity costs of releasing more water to the potential benefit of salmon upstream migrants, ie. adult spawners. Results from a pilot-study on the value Swedes place on preserving wild salmon in this river are also presented. No firm empirical conclusions can be presented at this stage. electricity, and indirectly controls the amount of salmon. The change of the stock of salmon is determined