Estimating the effects of technological efficiency on the European fishing fleet

✍ Scribed by Sebastian Villasante; Ussif Rashid Sumaila

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 137 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0308-597X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2009.11.008

✦ Synopsis

By comparing the real reductions in fishing capacity of the European Union (EU) and the effects of technological efficiency, this paper presents the first comprehensive analysis since the creation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Using a standard methodology and a conservative value of 7 4.4% for annual technological progress, the results obtained for tonnage indicated that the EU-13 fleet's fishing capacity was reduced by 4 4% for only three years (1991, 2004, and 2006) in the 1987-2006 period. This result shows that technological efficiency always grew faster than the real reduction of fishing capacity. Moreover, the reduction of the fishing power of the EU-13 fleet exceeded 4% annually only in 1991 (5.2%), 2004 (6.6%), and 2006 (6.5%). These results demonstrate a high level of incoherence and inefficiency of the CFP in terms of reducing fishing capacity over time. The results presented here highlight the fact that the overcapacity problem is the key issue that should be addressed by the next CFP-reform.