On the economic nature of consumers\u2019 willingness to pay for a selective and sustainable fishery: A comparative empirical study

Special issue on Discards regulation vs Mediterranean fisheries sustainability.-- 6 pages, 2 tables[EN] The EU Landing Obligation (LO) bans discards to incentivize a more selective and sustainable fishery. This regulation may induce a cost to the fishing industry that could be transferred to final fish consumers. We aim to assess the consumers’ reservation price for a sustainable and selective fishery. The methodology follows two steps: We first assess the value of the reservation price (willingness to pay, WTP) for a sustainable and selective fishery by using contingent valuation methods from a comparative perspective in Spain and Italy. We then attempt to empirically assess the components of WTP by using an original model specification that, unlike those presented in the literature, exogenizes socio-economic variables and uses ideological indicators to explain WTP in a two-line simultaneous model estimated by instrumental variable regression. The results show a positive, though low, WTP across the two samples, and very different impacts of estimated coefficients on the WTP for the two samples. A preliminary interpretation of this divergence highlights that Italian consumers consider LO-incentivized sustainable fishery a pure public good linked to issues of legality, and Spanish consumers consider it an impure public good linked to environmental issues. These differences may indicate how strongly the institutions and the policies in each region are perceived by a different human capital structure. They may also indicate that the problem, the perceptions of it and the solutions to it differ according to the context[ES] La obligación de desembarque de la Unión Europea (LO) prohíbe los descartes para incentivar una pesquería más selectiva y sostenible. Esta regulación puede inducir costes a la industria pesquera que a su vez pueden ser transferidos al consumidor final. Nuestro objetivo es evaluar el precio de reserva del consumidor para una pesquería más sostenible y selectiva. La metodología se basa en dos fases: primero, evaluamos el precio de reserva (disposición a pagar, WTP) para una pesquería sostenible y selectiva mediante métodos de valoración contingente (CV) en un estudio comparativo entre España e Italia. En una segunda fase intentamos estimar empíricamente los componentes de esta WTP mediante la especificación original de un modelo que, a diferencia de la literatura existente, exogeniza las variables socioeconómicas y usa indicadores ideológicos para explicar la WTP, en una regresión bi-funcional con variables instrumentales (IV). Los resultados muestran una WTP positiva, aunque reducida, en ambas muestras, y permiten deducir un impacto distinto de los coeficientes estimados en la WTP. La interpretación preliminar de esta divergencia hace destacar que los consumidores italianos consideran como un bien público puro a una pesquería sostenible incentivada mediante LO, relacionado con aspectos de legalidad, mientras que los consumidores españoles consideran ese modelo de pesquería como un bien público impuro, relacionado con conservación ambiental. Estas diferencias pueden indicar la fortaleza con la que dos estructuras distintas de capital humano perciben las instituciones y las políticas de cada región. También sugieren una distinta percepción, existencia y solución del problema en un contexto distintoThis research was funded by EU H2020 Research and Innovation Action “MINOUW” (contract nº 634495)Peer reviewe

Defend as You Can, React Quickly: The Effects of the COVID-19 Shock on a Large Fishery of the Mediterranean Sea

This paper presents an analysis of the effect of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic and related restrictive measures on the activity of the Italian fleet of trawlers, which represents one of the most important fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea. We integrated multiple sources of information including: (1) Fleet activity data from Vessel Monitoring System, the most important satellite-based tracking device; (2) vessel-specific landing data disaggregated by species; (3) market and economic drivers affecting the effort variation during the lockdown and in the related fishing strategies; (4) monthly landings of demersal species in the main Italian harbors. These data sources are combined to: (1) Assess the absolute and relative changes of trawling effort in the geographical sub- areas surrounding the Italian coasts; (2) integrate and compare these changes with the market and economic drivers in order to explain the observed changes in fishing effort and strategy; (3) analyze the changes of the fishing effort on the Landing-per-unit- effort (LPUE) in order to further understand the strategy adopted by fishers during this crisis and to infer the potential consequence for the different stocks. The results provide an overview of the effects of the “COVID-19 shock,” in terms of fishing activity and socio-economic drivers, demonstrating that the consequences of the pandemic have been very varied. Although the COVID-19 shock has caused a marked overall reduction in activity in the first semester of 2020, in some cases the strategies adopted by fishermen and the commercial network linked to their activity have significantly reduced the impact of the emergency and taken back catch and effort to levels similar to those of previous years. These results could provide insights for management measures based on temporal stops of fishing activities. In particular, if no limits to the fishing effort after the restart of fishing activities are adopted, the benefits of fishing pressure reduction on fishery resources could be nullified. On the other hands, when fishing activities restart, and in the absence of catch control, effort tends to increase on coastal bottoms characterized by greater abundance of resources and longer effective fishing time

Towards transdisciplinary decision-support processes in fisheries: experiences and recommendations from a multidisciplinary collective of researchers

The shifting policy focus towards Ecosystem Based Management in Fisheries (EBFM) requires the integration of knowledge and disciplines and the engagement of stakeholders to support decision-making processes. Scientists contribute to this through (i) participatory research projects, (ii) stakeholder partnerships and (iii) institutional scientific advice processes. Understanding the role of scientists in such processes, the nature of the interactions between scientists, stakeholders and managers in knowledge integration and the link between science and policy is an emerging field of research addressing transdisciplinary challenges. In 2018, Ifremer-UMR AMURE organized the workshop ‘Science, Partnership and Decision-support in Fisheries’ bringing together international scientists from natural and social sciences to conduct a review based on twenty concrete case studies. Findings indicate that science-stakeholder-manager partnerships for decision-support in fisheries can play an essential role in the transition to EBFM. To foster this transition, eight recommendations are presented that cover the roles of the different participants, the expectations of partnerships, capacity building, the integration of the social sciences, and funding structures. Further, it is recommended that future research and innovation framework programmes into sustainable fisheries and other ocean uses should explicitly include mechanisms to foster transdisciplinary approaches and the development of best practices. Building-up networks and developing reflexive approaches to review experiences and practices for transdisciplinary approaches in EFBM decision-support will contribute to design the next generation transdisciplinary platforms and generating actionable knowledge towards EBFM

Key Economic Characteristics of Italian Trawl Fisheries and Management Challenges

Two key measures of economic performance are calculated and analyzed for three important Italian trawl fisheries (Northern Thyrrenian Sea, South of Sicily, Northern Adriatic Sea): the Net Economic Returns (NER), which informs on the economic performance and is considered a proxy of resource rent in fisheries and the Return on Fixed Tangible Assets (ROFTA), which is used as an approximation of the Return on Investment (ROI) and is a key financial and performance indicator for a fisherman in order to take a decision to operate in a fishery. The trend of these indicators over the last decade highlights a poor economic performance that is associated with an overall poor condition of the state of resources. The trend of economic performance indicators is put in relation, on a time-based approach, with the different types of management measures applied over the last decade. We show that trends of fishing effort and economic indicators as well as statistical analysis return a coherent interpretation of the main factors affecting the profitability levels of the selected fleets. The study reveals that management measures impacted negatively on the profitability of the sector in the short run. However, economic indicators inverted the trend in the last 3 years. An increasing biomass trend as well as the improvement in fishing mortality of some few stocks, together with the reduction of input costs could be considered as positive drivers which impacted positively on economic profitability of the fisheries concerned. The study argues that even the technical and fishery management provisions in the Mediterranean Sea may have started to reverse the trend in economic profitability of the analyzed fleets. An additional management effort needs, however, to be developed on an urgent basis in order to ensure the achievement of the management goals defined by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)

Towards an Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Campania Region (Italy): A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Analysis of Coastal Fishery Activities and their Socio-Economic Management

AbstractThe paper presents same of the main outcomes of a study concerning the application of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) to Campania region in Italy. The study was focused on the analysis of main uses and activities related to fishery such as the definition of thematic maps describing zones in which fishing activities are prohibited or restricted, areas of distribution of fishing effort, socio economic sustainability of local artisanal fishery, the relevance of fishing tourism and recreational fisheries, an analysis of local fish market. Data provided by official source as the Fishery Data collection, vessel traffic monitoring systems, logbook and legislative sources were successively verified by a field analysis through direct interviews to stakeholders

Key Economic Characteristics of Italian Trawl Fisheries and Management Challenges

Two key measures of economic performance are calculated and analyzed for three important Italian trawl fisheries (Northern Thyrrenian Sea, South of Sicily, Northern Adriatic Sea): the Net Economic Returns (NER), which informs on the economic performance and is considered a proxy of resource rent in fisheries and the Return on Fixed Tangible Assets (ROFTA), which is used as an approximation of the Return on Investment (ROI) and is a key financial and performance indicator for a fisherman in order to take a decision to operate in a fishery. The trend of these indicators over the last decade highlights a poor economic performance that is associated with an overall poor condition of the state of resources. The trend of economic performance indicators is put in relation, on a time-based approach, with the different types of management measures applied over the last decade. We show that trends of fishing effort and economic indicators as well as statistical analysis return a coherent interpretation of the main factors affecting the profitability levels of the selected fleets. The study reveals that management measures impacted negatively on the profitability of the sector in the short run. However, economic indicators inverted the trend in the last 3 years. An increasing biomass trend as well as the improvement in fishing mortality of some few stocks, together with the reduction of input costs could be considered as positive drivers which impacted positively on economic profitability of the fisheries concerned. The study argues that even the technical and fishery management provisions in the Mediterranean Sea may have started to reverse the trend in economic profitability of the analyzed fleets. An additional management effort needs, however, to be developed on an urgent basis in order to ensure the achievement of the management goals defined by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)

Efficiency of shallow- and deep-water trawling in the Mediterranean and its implications for discard reduction

The Mazara del Vallo fleet is one of the main fleets of large trawlers in the Mediterranean. Traditionally, the two main fishing strategies adopted by the fleet can be summarized as follows: pesca a fresco (250 m), mainly targeting deep-water shrimp sold frozen. The second fishing strategy has become increasingly important over the last decade. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the choice of targeting deep-water shrimp impacted the level of technical and scale efficiency for the fleet assessed through an input-oriented data envelopment analysis. The analysis was based on data collected under the Italian National Programme within the European Data Collection Framework, as well as through a focus group discussion with the trawler skippers. The results showed that the pesca a congelato trawlers had the highest average efficiency, with both technical and scale efficiency close to the maximum level. On the basis of information collected during the focus group discussion on the pesca a congelato strategy, technical efficiency was coupled with a lower discard rate and the widespread use of LED lights. The findings were discussed in light of the objective of discard reduction in European fisheries, one of the pillars of the reformed common fishery policy

Science, partnership and decision support processes in fisheries: sharing experiences and practices and identifying Lessons learnt from an interdisciplinary perspective

Implementation of Ecosystem Based Managementin fisheries has led to higher integration of knowledge in advices and higher engagement of stakeholders in the decision support Process. As part of the process, fisheries scientists contributein different ways and at different levels to decision support and experienced partnership approaches in the context of research projects or institutional decision support. Role of scientists in the process is howevernot trivial to define and operationalize. Several pitfalls can occur that scientists may have experienced through partnership projects or in the expert assessments done for authorities. A workshop was organized from 15 to 17 January 2018 as part of the ScipaDeproject of the Cluster of Excellence('Labex') funded by the French 'Investment for the future' program and supported by the French Ministry of Research and Education. It brought together biologists, economists and social and political scientists involved in decision support processesand partnership approaches in fisheries at European level to share experiences and views across case studies, disciplines and projects. Context, content and lessons learnt from concrete experiences of bio-economic impact assessment of fisheries management scenarios provided in different case studies were reviewed and the links between scientists-stakeholders-decision makers in the decision support process in fisheries was explored through discussions and SWOT analyses. An Australian case was also reported to put into perspective the approaches and lessons learnt described at the European scale with respect to the institutionalized partnership platform for decision making used in Australian. This report provides information on the SciPaDe project, the participants to the workshop, the content of the workshop and the main perspectives and tasks identified. The workshop underlined the need to continue and better structure networks around interdisciplinary approaches, to share our vision of the role of scientists in decision support process, our experiences, methods and recommendationsand to disseminate lessons learnt from analysis of practices in integrated science decision support in fisheries