P491-BioMod Deliverable 4912 Linkage of Economic and Fisheries Indicators

Developing and parameterising fisheries bioeconomic models is seen as playing an important role in the evaluation of proposed fisheries management strategies. One of the key challenges in doing this has been the different aggregation levels of the biological and economic data. For example, economic data (costs, prices etc) is aggregated at the supra-region level as a function of fleet components, whereas biological data is collected at the smaller regional level. Management plan evaluations are required at the regional level which means methods must be developed to scale and merge the economic and biological data at this level. Here we present a method based on the use of transversal variables (such as effort). By calculating a ‘unit cost per effort’ at the supraregion level, we are able to estimate costs at the regional level. This is made more difficult by the aggregation of fishing metiers and gears in the economic data, which have their own cost structure. Linear modelling techniques are used to help overcome to this issue. This report presents these methods using the North Sea fisheries as a case study. Note that this report was not prepared using MS Word. It was prepared using Latex / KnitR and R. This allows the computer code that was used to generate the results to be embedded in the report and executed during the report compilation, including the plotting of figures. This is preferable for scientific report writing as it ensures that the results presented here are ‘live’. Consequently, the following report may not strictly adhere to the JRC template.JRC.G.3-Maritime affair

The TAC Dependency Tool: EU fishing fleet’s economic dependency on stocks subjected to fishing TACs. Online tool v2, including Species_GSA units for the Mediterranean & Black Sea fleet

The present report develops a TAC Dependency Indicator for stocks regulated by a Total Allowable Catch as listed in the Council Regulations fixing fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters, in line with Regulation No 1380/2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The TDI focuses on providing an estimate of the economic relevance that each stock subjected to a TAC has on EU fishing fleets from a regulatory perspective. This approach was chosen taking into consideration the main aim of the exercise, which is to provide policy makers with reference economic data collected under the Data Collection Framework and analysed within the scope of the AER in a format that can be easily linked to TACs and TAC proposals. The TDI consists in the proportion between the value of landings associated to a given stock and the total value of landings of a fleet segment. Proportional employment and GVA associated to each TAC unit are also provided.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Bioeconomic Modelling Applied to Fisheries with R/FLR/FLBEIA

The main objectives of the study presented in this report were to test the FLBEIA API, condition an operating model for the North Sea mixed fisheries and provide feedback on bioeconomic modelling limitations. Additionally, Fishrent and Fcube were also tested. FLR, FLBEIA, Fishrent and Fcube are software packages implemented by the scientific community studying fisheries to run bioeconomic models. A large test was carried out on FLBEIA by both running existing examples and trying to implement a bioeconomic model for the North Sea. In general the group felt FLBEIA is on the correct path to provide a bioeconomic modeling framework, although some work is still required. FLBEIA is not ready yet for production. A list of bugs and improvements was assembled. Conditioning a bioeconomic operating model for the North Sea showed the difficulties of merging economic and biological information. Inconsistencies on the effort definition seem to create additional problems when relating both sources of information. This subject must be further explored. The exercise was successful but data problems prevented the performance of a full economic analysis, although trend analysis on economic indicators for each scenario tested was possible. Nevertheless, these results must be taken carefully.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair

Defining Small-scale Fisheries in the EU on the Basis of their Operational Range of Activity - The Swedish Fleet as Case Study

Extending the definition of small scale fisheries is a recurrent issue in policy and research debates. Abroader definition of small scale fisheries would need to encompass, in addition to vessel size attributessuch as vessel length, variables relating to their local operational range, their social role in coastal commu-nities and the economics of the enterprise. In this study, data mining and geospatial analysis techniqueswere used to explore the relationship between vessel characteristics and local operational range. Theprocess relies heavily on the availability of detailed logbook data and involves two main steps: (1) clus-tering vessels on the basis of operational range attributes and (2) finding vessel characteristics that bestmatch the operational range classes through machine learning algorithms. The analysis was carried outusing the Swedish fishing fleet as a case study and considers the fishing activity of the entire fleet over theperiod 2007–2013. Swedish logbook data offers the advantage of providing precise spatial informationon the location of the catch. Results clearly identified three operational range clusters: local, mediumand long range. When considering engine power and vessel tonnage as explanatory variables, the clas-sification algorithms were able to represent the operational range classes with a success rate of 94%.However, the fact that medium size vessels operate and compete in the same operational range class ofsmall size vessels limits, in practice, the possibility of using vessel characteristics to represent univocallythe local operational range characteristics of small scale fisheries, unless very high thresholds for powerand tonnage are used.JRC.G.3-Maritime affair

Identifying fisheries dependent communities in EU coastal areas

The importance of local communities relying on fisheries is constantly emphasised in the European Union’s Common Fishery Policy. Previous studies have analysed fishery employment for the entire EU based on statistical figures aggregated by administrative units at the regional or provincial level. This paper adopts a geographical approach to identify EU coastal communities relying on fisheries using accessibility analysis, principles at the basis of gravity models and disaggregated population and employment statistics. The dependency on fisheries is calculated comparing estimated employment from fisheries at each port with general employment in the areas of accessibility surrounding the port. By considering spatially disaggregated statistics the importance of fishing activities for specific local communities emerges more clearly in respect of previous studies. The map of fisheries dependent coastal communities identifies in 2010, 388 communities, out of 1697, with dependency ratios above 1%. Around 54% of total fishery employment is estimated in these areas. In terms of policy support, identifying and mapping these local fishing coastal communities is of key importance considering the strong priority assigned by the new European Union’s Common Fishery Policy to fishery management at the regional level.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair

A review of the European Union landing obligation focusing on its implications for fisheries and the environment

Discarding is a common practice in fisheries. Total discards are estimated to be about 30 million tonnes, representing around 23% of the world-wide catches. Discarding is an undesirable practice, not only because of the waste of resources, but also because of its contribution to the overexploitation of fish stocks. Several countries have already established discard bans, to different extents (e.g. Norway, Iceland, Chile, New Zealand). The EU’s landing obligation (discard ban) is a major measure of the latest reform of the Common Fisheries Policy for EU fisheries. It aims to reduce unwanted catches in EU fisheries, by incentivising improved selectivity and restoring fish stocks to levels that can sustain the maximum production over time without harming the biodiversity and the capacity of future generations to obtain fish. However, banning discards will inevitably induce diverse short- and long-term ecological, economic and social impacts, which may determine whether the landings obligation’s objectives will be achieved.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Aquaculture subsidies in the European Union: Evolution, impact and future potential for growth

Through its structural funds the European Union (EU) has invested €1.17 billion in the aquaculture sector over the period 2000–2014. In addition, the EU plans to spend a further €1.72 billion on the sector over the period 2014–2020 through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Despite this support, EU aquaculture production has not taken off. Indeed, EU production volume in 2016 was 8% less than in 2000, while global production increased by more than 150%. These investments aim to make the EU aquaculture sector more successful and competitive by focusing on quality, health and safety, as well as, eco-friendly production to provide consumers with high-quality, highly nutritional and trustworthy products. This study provides the first comprehensive overview on the allocation of the different structural funds in the aquaculture sector and across EU Member States from the year 2000–2020. The importance of these subsidies is put into perspective by comparing their evolution within and across the development of the different EU countries’ aquaculture sectors.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Global seafood consumption footprint

To ensure food security and nutritional quality for a growing world population in the face of climate change, stagnant capture fisheries production, increasing aquaculture production and competition for natural resources, countries must be accountable for what they consume rather than what they produce. To investigate the sustainability of seafood consumption, we propose a methodology to examine the impact of seafood supply chains across national boundaries: the seafood consumption footprint. The seafood consumption footprint is expressed as the biomass of domestic and imported seafood production required to satisfy national seafood consumption, and is estimated using a multi-regional input-output model. Thus, we reconstruct for the first time the global fish biomass flows in national supply chains to estimate consumption footprints at the global, country and sector levels (capture fisheries, aquaculture, distribution and processing, and reduction into fishmeal and fish oil) taking into account the biomass supply from beyond national borders.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Collection and dissemination of fisheries data in support of the EU Common Fisheries Policy

ABSTRACT: A systematic European Union (EU)-wide data framework for the collection of fisheries data in support of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was first implemented in 2002. Since that time, EU data collection regulation has undergone 2 revisions in response to evolving policy needs. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) is responsible for conducting research and providing advice on fisheries management under the CFP, and since 2005 has worked closely with the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). JRC and STECF have an open data policy, and aggregated data submitted by EU member states in response to data calls issued under the provisions of the data collection regulation are published via the website of the STECF. This paper provides an overview of the fisheries data activities carried out by the JRC in support of and in collaboration with the STECF and discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks of such activities.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource