OECD Review of Fisheries: Policies and Summary Statistics 2017

OECD

• Publisher: OECD
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9789264287259
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

Chapter 1. Production trends in fisheries and aquaculture1

This chapter provides an overview of recent trends in fisheries and aquaculture production. The continuing importance of aquaculture’s contribution to total production is clear and the average rate of growth in aquaculture output has been 2.1% per year since 2011 for the OECD region. The value of OECD level aquaculture output has grown even faster, averaging 6% per year since 2006, driven by price increases of 4% per year as producers have focused on higher value species. Capture fisheries landings at the OECD level have continued following the long-observed trend of decline and are now at the lowest level observed since 1995. This is the result of both declining stocks and more restrictive fishing policies aimed at ensuring sustainable exploitation. The value of capture landings, which was historically supported by price increases as the quantity of landings fell, has also started to decline more recently as prices have also started falling. Following a long period of decline, recent evidence seems to indicate that the number of fishing vessels has been stabilising at the OECD level in recent years.

The value of fisheries landing is down from its 2011 peak

The fisheries reported for this Review represent approximately half of the global fisheries in terms of volume of landings. Collectively they have reported landings of 45 million tonnes of fish and seafood in the form of 1 092 different species from all parts of the globe, worth USD 74 billion.

Production of wild-caught fish in OECD countries is considerably below its peak in the late 1980s and continues to decline. Price movements, especially after the financial crisis of the mid-2000s, have acted to mitigate the economic impact of lower landings on the sector, and landing values have been essentially flat since 2006, but with a notable spike in values in 2011 (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1. OECD landings in value and volume, 1995-2015

USD millions and thousand tonnes (left axis), USD/tonne (right axis)

Note: Landings refers to the weight or value of the product at the time of landing, regardless of the state in which is landed (i.e. the fish may be whole, or gutted or filleted). Total OECD landings are constructed from the sum of all reported landings by OECD member countries participating in the Review. This is currently 35 countries and excludes mainly countries with no substantial marine fisheries (such as landlocked countries).

Source: OECD Fisheries Database.

StatLink http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933627751

The current situation with respect to landings is the result of both declining stocks and more restrictive fishing policies aimed at ensuring more sustainable exploitation of fish stocks for the long term. While production continues to decline, there is some evidence that the number of fish stocks considered to be overfished is declining, as is the number of stocks where overfishing is taking place.

The countries and economies participating in this review collectively report 1 182 stocks with established targets or thresholds recently subject to quantitative assessment. The majority of these, 725 or 61%, have been assessed as meeting the stated management objectives. Of the stocks deemed to be meeting their objectives, which can vary across countries and stocks, 45% of the determinations have been made on the combined basis of both biomass levels (B) and fishing mortality (F). The remaining determinations are reported to be based upon estimates associated with only one of these indicators, either biomass levels (54%) or fishing mortality (1%).

New Zealand reports stocks at target, below the precautionary and threshold limits as well as subject to overfishing, as a % of all stocks as well as by value and volume (The Status of New Zealand’s Fisheries 2016). In terms of the numbers of stocks of known status, by the end of 2016 82% were below the ‘overfishing threshold’, and 71% were above their management targets. In terms of landings, 94% of assessed landings were made up of stocks that were considered to be meeting their management targets.

The United States reports stocks that are overfished and subject to overfishing as a share of all stocks in an annual report to congress that is mandated under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (NOAA, 2017[1]). In 2016, 474 stocks and stock complexes managed by federal fisheries management plans were tracked. Of the 235 stocks with known stock status, 197 (84%) were not overfished by the end of 2016 and of the 316 stocks where fishing mortality was known 286 were not subject to overfishing. Of the 339 stocks for which at least an assessment of either F or B was available 167 (49%) were neither overfished nor subject to overfishing and 51 (15%) were either overfished, subject to overfishing, or both.

According to the EU Communication on the State of Play of the CFP and Consultation on Fishing opportunities for 2018, in 2015, 39 of 66 stocks in the North-East Atlantic were exploited within FMSY (59%, up from 52% in the previous year). Median fishing mortality has stabilised at around 1 compared to FMSY (down from 1.58 in 2003 and 1.29 in 2008). The percentage of stocks within safe biological limits is also increasing in the North-East Atlantic. In 2015, 68% of stocks were classified as being within safe biological limits (53% in 2014). The number of total allowable catches (TACs) set in line with maximum sustainable yield (MSY) advice increased to 44, representing 61% of all expected catches in that region, for 20% of the expected catches, there was not MSY advice. The average stock biomass in the North-East Atlantic increased by 35% between 2003 and 2015. In the Mediterranean, fishing mortality remains at levels two to three times higher than FMSY and despite recent improvements, the status of many stocks remains unknown. Furthermore, average biomass declined by 20% between 2003 and 2014.

In the European Union, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) management objective for fish stocks is for spawning stock biomass (SSB) to attain or exceed the level required to achieve MSY (B>BMSY, or its proxy) and for fishing mortality (F) to be at or below that required to achieve MSY (F<FMSY).2 The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) provides stock-level assessment information based on a combination of STECF, ICES and GFCM data (STECF-17-04). This covers 106 stocks from both the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean areas, the majority of assessments are with respect to 2015 and the remainder for 2014 and 2013. Of these, F is less than FMSY for 45 of the 106 stocks and above for 61. For B, 26 stocks have B>Bpa (within the safe biological limit), 14 are outside this limit and for 66 there is insufficient scientific information to determine the stock biomass size. As regards stocks within/outside CFP requirements, the STECF concludes that the required information is ava...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Legal and rights
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Acronyms and abbreviations
• Executive summary
• Chapter 1. Production trends in fisheries and aquaculture
• Chapter 2. Policy developments in fisheries and aquaculture
• Chapter 3. The FSE database and indicators of policy support to fisheries
• Chapter 4. OECD country and non-OECD economy snapshots
• About the OECD