The profitability of marine commercial fisheries: a review of economic information needs with particular reference to the UK

Evaluating the performance of fisheries and the effectiveness of fisheries management measures requires economic as well as biological information. A recent House of Commons Agriculture Committee report has drawn attention to the scarcity of economic information on UK sea fisheries, and recommends the commissioning of regular research into the profitability of the fishing industry. While supporting this recommendation, the present article contends that the information requirements are more extensive than those suggested by the Committee; specifically, the need is for information that enables policy makers to assess both the actual profitability of fisheries in their existing state and also their potential profitability under alternative fisheries management regimes. In practice this calls for the commissioning not just of regular costs and earnings studies, important though these may be for painting an up-to-date picture of the current economic performance of fisheries, but a modelling framework that can answer “what-if ?” questions about the way economic performance might be altered or improved under different policy scenarios.