The main objective of this project is to obtain better knowledge about salmon price volatility in general, and in particular to investigate to what extent the relative price cycles between different weight classes are changing over time and why the salmon price peak during the summer months in some years (2000, 2006, 2009, 2010), but not in all years. A number of different hypothesis will be tested including the impact of changes in smolt release, production practices, regulations and temperatures. Two ma in approaches will be used:1. Based on a growth function, price expectations and a model of farmer behavior, one can determine optimal harvesting behavior. Given such a model, one can investigate the farmers? optimal responses to changes in production te chnology, regulations and environmental factors. For instance, how will harvesting patterns be influenced by colder temperatures that leads to lower growth rates? Does this depend on season, when the fish were transferred to sea and regulatory structure? 2. The behavior of the individual farmer aggregate up to give total supply of salmon. We do know that demand in the short run is relatively stable, and therefore that most short run movements in prices are caused by the suppliers. Using the insights from optimal harvesting models and general economic theories of price volatility, one can empirically investigate factors that influence price variation and volatility. In particular, one can investigate the causes for the patterns in the relative prices and t he peaks in the salmon prices in some years.The project will utilize a relatively recent date set, as systematic collection of data on a high frequency of salmon by cohort and size only commenced in 2001. The main questions adressed in this project canno t be adressed with the data that was available earlier