About

James Sanchirico is a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis. The page text provided does not include specific details about his research focus, background, or key contributions. Therefore, a detailed biography cannot be generated from the available information.

Research topics

• Natural resource economics
• Political Science
• Economics
• Macroeconomics
• Business
• Ecology
• Geography
• Microeconomics
• Economy

Selected publications

• Option pricing in a cap-and-trade market: Evidence from New Zealand fisheries

  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · 2026-03-23

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  We present empirical evidence of option pricing in a created market to address stock externalities in a common-pool resource. Using unique data on New Zealand’s quota fisheries, we show that tradable quota can carry an option premium of over 10 percent (i.e., the quota price is relatively higher at the start of the fishing year). By exploiting differences in species that are exported fresh and frozen, we show that an option premium arises only if a fisher can earn higher profits by aligning harvesting with high market prices. Since quota represents a forward-looking option to produce throughout the year, the quota price accounts for the potential value of using quota later in the year, when it may be more profitable.

  PublisherDOI

• A Model of Multidestination Trips: An application to commercial fishing and fuel policies

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Economic Federalism and the Impact of Uncoordinated Pandemic Policy Responses: an Optimal Control Approach

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Who benefits from capacity reduction programs? Insights from the U.S. Pacific Coast groundfish fishery

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Option Pricing in a Cap-and-Trade Market: Evidence from New Zealand Fisheries

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Biogeochemistry of Natural Climate Solutions Based on Fish, Fisheries, and Marine Mammals: A Review of Current Evidence, Research Needs, and Critical Assessment of Readiness

  Global Biogeochemical Cycles · 2025-07-01 · 2 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Abstract Several initiatives to conserve, restore or better manage fisheries, fishes, whales, and other marine animals have been proposed as natural climate solutions to sequester carbon from the atmosphere or avoid new emissions. We reviewed the knowledge and uncertainties surrounding carbon fluxes and storage mediated by these organisms to evaluate their suitability to support climate mitigation interventions. Estimates of the carbon stored within fish and marine mammal biomass ranged from 0.1 to 1.9 Pg C for mesopelagic fishes, 0.7–0.6 Pg C for all fishes, 0.0020–0.016 Pg C for great whales, and 0.0065–0.0113 Pg C for all marine mammals, compared to an estimated 1.5–6 Pg C stored in all ocean biota. Mesopelagic fishes, epipelagic fishes and great whales contribute on the order of 1–3 Pg C yr −1 , 0.03–0.06 Pg C yr −1 , and 0.001–0.004 Pg C yr −1 , respectively, to export from the ocean's surface below the euphotic zone, compared to an estimated total marine biological export of 9–10 Pg C yr −1 . The combined flux of carbon to the atmosphere from benthic trawling, biomass extraction, and fuel consumption during commercial fishing ranged from 0.05 to 0.25 Pg C yr −1 . Substantial uncertainties were associated with nearly all fluxes and reservoirs. The contributions of whales to carbon export and the mobilization of sediment carbon during benthic trawling were least certain, limiting the readiness of associated pathways to provide quantifiable, high‐quality carbon credits. Although substantial uncertainties also surrounded mesopelagic fishes, we found that even conservative estimates of these organisms' contribution to ocean carbon export are large enough to justify conservation actions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Managing for adaptive capacity in climate-ready fisheries

  Marine Policy · 2025-01-25 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Climate change is expected to increase short-run shocks and extreme events in oceanic conditions. Fishery managers are considering how to design climate-ready systems that enable fishers and fishing communities to adapt to these events without jeopardizing the long-run sustainability of the ocean ecosystem. This paper highlights a suite of potential policy options already employed by fishery managers worldwide. Although these options have been designed to address unique conditions in particular settings, it is valuable to understand whether and how they might be extrapolated to other settings to increase fishers’ adaptive capacity. We demonstrate that adaptive capacity depends on what constitutes a fishery and discuss how managers can increase adaptive capacity across internal and external margins conditional on a fishery’s definition. We contribute to the literature on climate-ready fisheries by expanding the discussion on adaptive capacity to include both internal and external margins, whereas the literature has focused on external margins for reducing barriers to entry. We also discuss the scientific and political economy challenges and trade-offs of introducing adaptive capacity into the US fishery management system. Ultimately, the benefits of doing so must be weighed against the risks of compromising a highly prescriptive system critical for achieving fishery sustainability.

  PublisherDOI

• Natural climate solutions based on fish, fisheries, and marine mammals: Current evidence and assessment of readiness

  2025-03-25 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Several initiatives to conserve, restore or better manage fisheries, fishes, whales, and other marine mammals have been proposed as natural climate solutions to sequester carbon from the atmosphere or avoid new emissions. We reviewed the knowledge and uncertainties surrounding carbon fluxes and storage mediated by these organisms to evaluate their suitability to support climate mitigation interventions. Estimates of the carbon stored within fish and marine mammal biomass ranged from 0.1-1.9 Pg C for mesopelagic fishes, 0.0020-0.016 Pg C for great whales, and 0.0065-0.0113 Pg C for all marine mammals, compared to an estimated 1.5-3 Pg C stored in all ocean biota. Epipelagic fishes, mesopelagic fishes, and great whales contribute on the order of 0.03-0.2 Pg C yr-1, 1-3 Pg C yr-1, and 0.001-0.004 Pg C yr-1, respectively, to carbon export from the ocean’s surface to below the euphotic zone, compared to an estimated total marine biological export of 9-10 Pg C yr-1. The combined flux of carbon to the atmosphere from benthic trawling, biomass extraction, and fuel consumption during commercial fishing ranged from 0.05-0.25 Pg C yr-1. Substantial uncertainties were associated with nearly all fluxes and reservoirs. The contributions of whales to carbon export and the mobilization of carbon from sediments during benthic trawling were least certain, limiting the readiness of associated pathways to provide quantifiable, high-quality carbon credits. While substantial uncertainties also surrounded mesopelagic fishes, we found that even the most conservative estimates of these organisms’ contribution to ocean carbon export were large enough to justify precautionary conservation actions.

  PublisherDOI

• <p>Internalizing Spatial-Dynamic Externalities: Endemic Disease in Chilean Aquaculture</p>

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Expert review of the science underlying nature-based climate solutions

  Nature Climate Change · 2024-03-21 · 86 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Viable nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) are needed to achieve climate goals expressed in international agreements like the Paris Accord. Many NbCS pathways have strong scientific foundations and can deliver meaningful climate benefits but effective mitigation is undermined by pathways with less scientific certainty. Here we couple an extensive literature review with an expert elicitation on 43 pathways and find that at present the most used pathways, such as tropical forest conservation, have a solid scientific basis for mitigation. However, the experts suggested that some pathways, many with carbon credit eligibility and market activity, remain uncertain in terms of their climate mitigation efficacy. Sources of uncertainty include incomplete GHG measurement and accounting. We recommend focusing on resolving those uncertainties before broadly scaling implementation of those pathways in quantitative emission or sequestration mitigation plans. If appropriate, those pathways should be supported for their cobenefits, such as biodiversity and food security.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NRT: Sustainable Oceans: From Policy to Science to Decisions

  NSF · $3.0M · 2017–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Peter J. Mumby

  University of Queensland

  50 shared

• Carrie V. Kappel

  National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

  46 shared

• Fiorenza Micheli

  Stanford University

  45 shared

• Kailin Kroetz

  Resources For The Future

  44 shared

• Daniel R. Brumbaugh

  42 shared

• Katherine E. Holmes

  American Museum of Natural History

  41 shared

• Alastair R. Harborne

  Florida International University

  40 shared

• Craig P. Dahlgren

  Ocean Conservancy

  39 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Agricultural and Resource Economics

  University of California, Davis

  1998