nef: fishing fleets fail to deliver

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Allocating fish quota and funds across the fleet without any social and environmental criteria is costing the UK economy, environment and society, according to a new report from think-tank nef.

the new economics foundation says that current allocation of fish quota and funds across the fleet fails to deliver “best value to society” with some cases delivering negative value. The report, Value slipping through the net, reveals the inefficiency of a system which rewards those who underperform in social, economic and environmental terms and punishes those that generate more societal benefits.

The report compares two gillnets and trawlers in terms of value created for society in terms of net revenues, employment, subsidies, discards, and GHG emissions. The results found that over the 2006–2008 period:

For every tonne of cod landed, trawlers delivered negative value ranging from -£116 for the smallest trawlers to almost -£2,000 for the largest.
Gillnets generated a net +£865 of value.
Trawlers landed almost 6,000t of cod, while gillnets landed less than 3% of this – just 163t.
The largest trawlers received direct subsidies of £219/t of cod landed while gillnets received £38.

“The results illustrate that some types of fishing harm society while others benefit it. Fisheries management must take this into account if it wants to ensure that the public benefits from the exploitation of a resource it owns” said Rupert Crilly, lead author of the report.

While the case study focuses on the UK, the problem is common to all EU countries with access to EU waters. The results have implications on how EU fish quota is allocated among EU members and within each member state.

By continuing to allocate fish quota and funds ignoring the social and environmental impacts of their fleet, EU member states will miss on economic, social and environmental benefits, the organisation says.

"Current allocation of fish quota and funds across the EU and within each member state clearly fails ‘the public interest first’ test," said Aniol Esteban from nef and co-author of report. "The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy gives EU governments an opportunity to ensure access to fish is granted to those that deliver positive returns to society"