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The study, titled "Economic Values of Sport, Personal Use, and Commercial Salmon Fishing in Upper Cook Inlet," documents the uniqueness of Upper Cook Inlet among all of Alaska's maritime regions in its relative proportions of recreational and commercial fishing. Sport and personal use fishing is heavily concentrated in the area - which also encompasses the most populated region in the state - and the economic values associated with these activities are much more substantial than generally realized.

These economic considerations are among the factors taken into account by the Alaska Board of Fisheries when making allocations and other regulatory decisions, so it is extremely important this information is presented to the fisheries stakeholders, which includes state legislators and agency officials, because they haven't had this information in digestible form before.

I don't think most people realize what a tremendous economic engine recreational fishing is and its overall economic importance to the state. For the first time hard data is now available that demonstrates the central economic importance of recreational salmon fishing in Upper Cook Inlet. For example, the total average annual jobs and income generated by recreational salmon fishing in Upper Cook Inlet are more than six times greater than their commercial equivalences.

Some of the report's more central findings include:

• Recreational salmon fishing in Upper Cook Inlet generates direct spending of $246 million (2003 dollars) and $290 million in total sales that support some 3,400 "full-time equivalent" or "average annual" jobs producing $95 million in income.

• Ex-vessel (commercial catch) values for salmon in Upper Cook Inlet averaged $13.6 million annually from 1999 to 2004 as compared to an average value of $38 million from 1976 to 1998, about one-third of the former average annual value after adjusting for inflation. Estimates based on the higher ex-vessel price values of the mid-1990s attribute 500 average annual jobs and $15 million in income to harvesting, processing and indirect and induced employment arising from commercial salmon harvests in Upper Cook Inlet. With current ex-vessel values at one-third of former values, jobs and income are now substantially less than this estimate.

• The collective economic gain or net economic value of recreational salmon fishing in Upper Cook Inlet is estimated at $104 million (in 2003 dollars) - almost half (47 percent) of the statewide recreational fishing net economic value total - with $56 million of that amount going to Alaskans.

• The collective economic gain or net economic value of commercial salmon fishing in Upper Cook Inlet to both Alaskan and nonresident permit holders at current historically low ex-vessel (commercial catch) values is estimated at less than $1 million. Because of low ex-vessel prices and correspondingly low net economic value, commercial salmon permits statewide and in Cook Inlet are worth about 1/6 to 1/10 of their former high values in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and participation levels have experienced recent declines.

Having an economic report - using accepted scientific studies - which policy makers can use to assess the relative economic values of sport and commercial fisheries in the region, is long overdue.

This study provides a clear picture of the immense economic effect that sport and personal use salmon fishing has in Upper Cook Inlet and I expect it will have serious implications for future resource allocation decisions.

The report is expected to be available online soon at www.kenairiversportfishing.com or by calling KRSA at 262-8588.

• Ricky Gease is the executive director of the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, a nonprofit fishery conservation organization in Soldotna. A Stanford University alumnus with a Master's of Science in biology (1986), he lives on the Kenai Peninsula.