1. National Marine Fisheries Service is considering closing a large area of federal waters to fishing in Alaska due to negative interactions of fishing with endangered Steller sea lions (due to capturing of seals in fishing gear and catch of the prey species of the sea lions by fishermen). In doing this, the closures are expected to displace 30 vessels from fishing in the Aleutian Islands, each of which made profits of $100,000 on an annual basis from fishing in these waters. Best estimates are that all 30 of these vessels will find employment in alternative fisheries, but these fisheries will be less profitable - yielding profits of only $50,000 per vessel each year.
a. Calculate the annual cost to the entire industry from the closures.
b. Assuming a 10 year planning horizon (t=1,...,10), calculate the present value of these costs using a discount rate of r=.03.