Differences of Profitability Within a Multi-species Multi-gear Multi-area Fishery: How much is explained by barriers to entry?

The fishing activities within the English Channel may be regarded as various components of one large multi-species multi-gear multi-area fishery. As a result of a bioeconomic analysis of this fishery, significant differences in profitability between activities were outlined. According to industrial economics, such differences may be regarded as the result of barriers to entry limiting the access to the most profitable activities. The aim of this paper is to determine which part of the differences of profitability outlined in the survey can be explained by usual barriers to entry (geographical, technical, institutional, informational), and which part should be attributed to other factors, such as non monetary arguments of the utility function of producers. It is based on a socio-economic survey of 160 French fishermen. The interest of this analysis is both theoretical and practical: on one side, it intends to provide some new evidence in the debate concerning the economic rationality of fishermen; on the other side, it helps to identify the range of remote constraints fishery management has to cope with.Keywords: barriers to entry, economic behavior, English Channel fishery

An analysis of the fishmeal industry: From wild fisheries to international fishmeal and fish oil markets

Because of the stagnation of commercial landings, the development of aquaculture activities is expected to rise during the next decades to match the growing demand for fisheries goods. Overall, it is often expected that the aquaculture sector could reduce to a certain extent the pressure applied over wild stocks. However, this development is likely to be limited by the availability of key aquaculture inputs, namely fishmeal and fish oil. Aquaculture is indeed one of the primary users of fishmeal and fish oils products, together, with the poultry and pigs industries (respectively around 45% and 80% of the total consumption). The availability of these inputs mainly depends on the pelagic stocks, which are already strongly or over exploited. Thus, the fishmeal industry is expected to play a key role in the future interactions between the aquaculture and the fisheries industries. In particular, the optimization of pelagic resources use is crucial to support further development of aquaculture, as well as the understanding of global input and output flows related to the reduction sector. Reduction technologies are characterised by a number of conversion ratios. Yet, these ratios are in general poorly documented. Based on an analysis of fish production and trade databases, this paper provides some information on the performances of the reduction industries around the world, and on the raw materials used by these industries

Les objectifs d’une politique publique vus par les acteurs : une analyse multicritères de la politique commune de la pêche

Cet article présente la méthodologie et les résultats d’un projet de recherche consacré aux objectifs de la politique commune de la pêche. Une technique d’analyse multicritères est utilisée pour révéler les  références des groupes d’acteurs en matière d’objectifs d’aménagement des pêcheries. Les résultats obtenus à l’aide de cette technique permettent de déterminer les coefficients de pondération d’un modèle d’optimisation multi-objectifs de la pêcherie utilisée comme cas d’étude. La comparaison des résultats du modèle obtenus avec différents systèmes de pondérations permet de préciser les implications des  références manifestées par chaque groupe d’acteurs et leur comparaison avec l’état réel de la pêcherie donne une vue de l’importance relative de chaque groupe dans le processus de décision. Dans le cas d’étude présenté, il apparaît que les structures de préférences manifestées par les représentants de  l’administration et des organisations professionnelles de la pêche sont proches l’une de l’autre et exercent  une influence plus significative que celle des experts scientifiques sur la politique d’aménagement de la  pêcherie.This paper presents the methodology and results of a research project dedicated to the objectives of the  Common Fisheries Policy. Stakeholders’ preferences concerning fisheries management objectives are  elicited with the help of a multicriteria decision analysis method, and are used as inputs in a multi-objective  optimisation model of the fishery under survey. Running the model with various preference systems helps  to assess the consequences of various stakeholders’ preferences on the state of the fishery. As regards the case under survey, the results of stakeholders’ preference elicitation and modelling suggest that public  authorities and representatives of the fishing industry share rather similar views on the objectives of  fisheries management, and influence the actual state of the fishery more significantly than scientists  involved in fisheries management

Success: Strategic Use of Competitiveness towards Consolidating the Economic Sustainability of the European Seafood Sector

The H2020 SUCCESS project aims at improving the competitiveness and economic sustainability of the European seafood sector. In accordance with the Call (BG-10-2014), SUCCESS will in particular identify "success stories", defined as innovative or alternative ways of running aquaculture and fisheries businesses. These exemplary cases will be reported during the project, in order to understand how likely they are to modify the economic performances of production activities, and improve the competitiveness of the seafood industry. In addition, as part of the dissemination activity, it was decided to produce a film presenting some selected successful cases. As part of the SUCCESS Special Session, we propose (1) to present the methodology followed to identify the potential "success stories", (2) to describe the cases selected and (3) to show a preliminary compilation of the first films.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

21st century catch toolkit: practical approaches for sustainable inshore fishing communities

The 21st Century Catch Toolkit is a product of the INTERREG IVa 2 Seas project GIFS (Geography of Inshore Fishing and Sustainability). Work on the GIFS project was completed between January 2012 and September 2014 and was undertaken by a collaboration of six partners from four European countries bordering the Southern North Sea and English Channel. GIFS aimed to understand and capture the social, economic and cultural importance of inshore fishing to better inform fisheries policy, coastal regeneration strategies and sustainable community development. The project has involved a range of research projects, regeneration activities and case studies across southern England, northern France, Flanders and the southern Netherlands. GIFS partners have worked with local stakeholders and communities to explore the geographical diversity and similarities of fishing ports, harbours and people along the Channel and Southern North Sea. This toolkit is a product of that collaboration which provides useful findings and advice on how to value the social, economic and cultural importance of inshore fishing today

Addressing marine and coastal governance conflicts at the interface of multiple sectors and jurisdictions

Marine and coastal activities are closely interrelated, and conflicts among different sectors can undermine management and conservation objectives. Governance systems for fisheries, power generation, irrigation, aquaculture, marine biodiversity conservation, and other coastal and maritime activities are typically organized to manage conflicts within sectors, rather than across them. Based on the discussions around eight case studies presented at a workshop held in Brest in June 2019, this paper explores institutional approaches to move beyond managing conflicts within a sector. We primarily focus on cases where the groups and sectors involved are heterogeneous in terms of: the jurisdiction they fall under; their objectives; and the way they value ecosystem services. The paper first presents a synthesis of frameworks for understanding and managing cross-sectoral governance conflicts, drawing from social and natural sciences. We highlight commonalities but also conceptual differences across disciplines to address these issues. We then propose a novel analytical framework which we used to evaluate the eight case studies. Based on the main lessons learned from case studies, we then discuss the feasibility and key determinants of stakeholder collaboration as well as compensation and incentive schemes. The discussion concludes with future research needs to support policy development and inform integrated institutional regimes that consider the diversity of stakeholder interests and the potential benefits of cross-sectoral coordination

Understanding the supply of seafood products: between firms’ strategies, marketing choices and management decisions. The case of scallops in France

Despite creeping innovations and progresses, the supply of seafood products is fairly limited bynatural and technological constraints. Meanwhile, the global demand for seafood products is expending, due todemographical and growth effects. As a result, a scope for high valuation of such a natural and renewableresource is expected in many places across the world. However, some fisheries products remain poorly valuated,despite their taste and health characteristics. This can be due to several factors, sometimes interrelated, such asthe supply strategies of fishing firms, the sourcing strategies of processing businesses, the preferences of theconsumers or the management regulation in place. In this paper, the case of the French scallop fisheries isexplored, as scallops count among the most important species in terms of both harvesting and trade in France. Itis shown that as the supply behaviours of the fishing firms are strongly influenced by the management systems inplace, a part processing enterprises tends to privilege imports substitution products. On the other hand, the paperalso presents the case of a vertical integration strategy developed in France, and discusses some of the associatedeffects

The use of trade measures against illicit fishing: Economic and legal considerations

International audienceIllegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities are a threat for both the marine environment and society. By undermining effective management systems, IUU fishing activities affect economic performance, social welfare and compliance decisions. So far, “traditional” control and surveillance-like measures have had a limited success in deterring IUU fishing, so this paper aims at throwing light on several forms of trade-related initiatives that can be more effective. The paper suggests that both the effectiveness and further development of such measures strongly depend on the way they are designed, especially with respect to their trade-law compatibility. However, current discussions on future trade-based policy developments within some key economic areas suggest that trade measures are a sound option for policy makers. While the paper focuses on fisheries issues, it is also expected to inform the international debate surrounding the sustainable use of natural resources in general, as many sectors face similar biodiversity and trade challenges (e.g. tropical forest, mangroves, etc.)