Socio-economic Review of Community Fisheries
MegaPesca Lda, Portugal

Community
Overview Fleet
Structure Between
1991 and 1998, there was a nominal reduction in the registered EU fleet capacity
of 4.5% in tonnage and 9.1% in power, but during this period, the EU fleet was
also increased by the accession of two maritime nations, Sweden and Finland, and
the re-unification of Germany. Based
on the fleet of the EU 12 in 1991, by 1998 tonnage had declined by 8% and power
by 14.7%. Table
1 No.
vessels Capacity
3 Power
kW Av.
Tonnage3 Av.
power (kW) Belgium 148 23.082 64.896 156 438 Denmark 4.648 97.932 380.877 21 82 Finland 3.979 24.170 219.745 6 55 France 8.836 209.460 1.141.528 24 129 Germany 2.373 75.103 171.457 32 72 Greece 20.243 111.933 654.199 6 32 Ireland 1.246 61.082 190.625 49 153 Italy1 16.325 260.603 1.513.677 16 93 Netherlands 1.040 174.344 482.263 168 464 Portugal 11.579 123.923 393.671 11 34 Spain 17.972 589.359 1.474.421 33 82 Sweden2 2.123 48.840 256.542 20 103 UK 8.658 253.409 1.047.690 29 121 EU
15 99.170 2.053.240 7.991.591 21 81 Based on Marsource (derived from the Community Register of Fishing
Vessels, 1stJanuary 1998) 1 1997 data 2 1997 data for tonnage and power, 1999 data for No. of vessels. 3 Statistical tonnage (mixture of GRT, GT and national standards) Landings
of marine fish Although
Denmark lands some 30% of the EU total by volume (1.9 million tonnes) most of
this is used for reduction, and is of relatively low unit value. With the
exception of Sweden, in most other regions the landings are utilised mainly for
human consumption, and have much higher unit value. After Denmark, Spain had the
next highest landings, with 964,603 tonnes, followed by UK, France, Netherlands
and Italy. EU vessels landed 423,000 tonnes outside the EU in 1998, particularly
from UK and Spanish vessels. Processing Aquaculture A
recent study to characterise the sector (footnote
3) found that in 1997/1998 the production from marine aquaculture was 845,905
tonnes, with a value of over ECU 1.36 billion. The major producers are France
(208,065 tonnes), Spain (208,065 tonnes), Italy (157,719 tonnes) and the UK
(113,425 tonnes) but in terms of value, France and UK are the most important,
with outputs of ECU 359.1 million and ECU 350 million respectively. About
one third of the marine aquaculture production by value comprises bivalve
mollusca. The major producing regions are found in Galicia in Northern Spain
(mussel production) and the West Coast of France (oyster production). The main
species of fish produced by marine aquaculture are salmon, seabass and bream,
eel and turbot. Total production of this species was 181,929 tonnes with a value
ECU 793.8 million. The sector is dominated by the production of salmon (mainly
in Scotland), followed by seabass and seabream in Greece; Ireland is the only
other producer of note (mainly producing salmon). Greek hatcheries are also a
major supplier of juvenile fish, generating revenues of another ECU 31.4
million, all of which is consumed by the aquaculture sector. Inland
aquaculture production is widely practised, with some production in all EU
member states. The output of inland aquaculture was estimated to be ECU 605
million in 1997/1998, corresponding to 261,858 tonnes. The main species produced
are trout and carp. Italy produces 22.4% of EU output value and Germany 14.5 %
by value, with France and Denmark (mainly trout and eels) also being significant
producers, followed by the UK, with trout production accounting for 10% by of EU
output value. Inland
capture fisheries Regional
and Socio-Economic Importance Of Fisheries click
to view EU fisheries Employment data table
Overview Table
2 Sector Sector
Output No.
employed Volume
Tonnes
1000 Value ECU
million FT+PT FTE2 Men2 Women2 No.
% No. % Marine fishing 6,301 7,273 241,010 224,152 226,065 94 14,943 6 Fish processing n.a. 10,265 89,468 80,521 36,503 41 52,965 59 Marine aquaculture 845 1,370 50,329 41,043 36,035 72 14,294 28 Inland aquaculture 261 605 11,569 10,181 9,856 85 1,713 15 Inland fishing 104 2583 9,521 6,760 n.a. n.a. Other fishery sector1 n.a. n.a. 112,147 n.a. n.a. n.a. TOTAL 7,511 197713 514,054 362,657 308,460 78 83,914 22 Source:
National statistical sources and ‘Regional
Socio-economic Studies on Employment and the Level of Dependency on
Fishing’ Directorate General for Fisheries, 2000 Notes:
1 Other
is 1996/97 estimate and includes
distribution, mollusc gathering, vessel construction and repair; it is
likely to underestimate employment 2 FTE
and gender estimates are based on the data
factors from the 1997 figures, assuming no change in employment
departments between 1996 and 1998 3 A
significant proportion of primary output from fishing and aquaculture is
consumed by other branches of the fishery sector (such as processing 4 1996/97
data Spain has
most fishers, employing 68,297 in 1996 (about a quarter of the EU total)
followed by Italy with 18% and Greece with 17% of the total. Other Member States
with relatively large numbers employed at sea are Portugal (27,197), France (19,
163) and UK (17,847). Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Sweden and
Netherlands all have less than 7,000 fishers. There is no employment in marine
fishing in land-locked Austria and Luxembourg. Between
1990 and 1998, the numbers of fishers in the EU fell by about 66,000 from a
nominal 306,961 to 241,010, corresponding to an overall decrease of 21%. The
last decade has seen a net reduction of about 8,000 fishers in the sector each
year. Three countries (Spain, Portugal and Italy) showed quite substantial
declines in the number employed with the greatest fall in employment being
recorded in the Spanish industry. Here the number employed declined by over
24,000, about one quarter of the 1990 total of 92,424, with the main decline
experienced in the North and Atlantic coast regions. Part of this fall can be
attributed to the reduced access to the Moroccan fishery under successive
fisheries agreements between the EU and Morocco. Portugal,
with 27,197 fishers, was the country to show the next largest decline in fishing
employment with a fall of over 10,000 (since 1981). Fishing employment in Italy
also fell by 9,194 fishers, to 43,289 (a 17.4% decline). Some regions in the EU
have shown an apparent slight increase in numbers of fishers since 1991 (such as
the Azores and Greece). The majority of other areas experienced a smaller
decline in employment in marine fishing, and in several regions (e.g. Sicily and
Sardinia, Finland and Scotland & Northern Ireland) there were no significant
changes in fishing employment. Employment
in fish processing Despite
expansion of the EU, employment in fish processing fell from 104,316 in 1990 to
89,468 in 1998 (a decline of just over 14%). Portugal and Denmark experienced
the largest apparent declines in employment in processing. Significant declines
were also suffered in Italy, France and the UK (around 20% over the period).
Spain experienced a lesser decline (around 12%) and numbers employed in fish
processing appear to have increased slightly in Belgium and in Germany. Dependency of the processing sector on the EU fishing
industry Some of
the major imports are white fish fillet blocks, herring, tuna for canning and
frozen crustacea. Overall, only an
estimated 53% of processing jobs appeared to be dependent on EU landings in
1996/97. Sectors of the EU processing industry which are considered to be still
substantially dependent on EU landings are tuna and sardine canning, and the
primary processing of white fish. The tuna
canning sectors of Spain, France and Portugal are respectively substantially
dependent on EU landings into Galicia, Brittany and the Azores. The Italian tuna
canning industry is considered to be exceptional, since it is now almost 100%
dependent on imported raw material from third countries. Sardine
canning provides employment linked exclusively to local landings in Spain (Huelva
in the South), Portugal (Mainland) and France (Brittany and Bay of Biscay). In
Italy about 35% of fish processing employment is linked to local landings,
mainly in the sardine canning and anchovy conserving sectors. In most
of the more northern EU countries such as Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and
in parts of the UK, the EU-landing related employment in processing is limited
to primary processing of whitefish and some shellfish processing (e.g. shrimp
processing in Netherlands and Denmark). In Germany, nearly 100% of the
processing inputs (fillet blocks and herring) are imported, and there are few,
if any links to landings. In Belgium also, the larger industrial processors rely
on imports. In Denmark although the fish meal industry does rely exclusively on
local landings, it provides little employment relative to the volume of material
processed. Employment in other fisheries activities Inland
fishing accounts for only 2.3% of fishery sector employment. However there is no
data for some regions and under-recording is suspected in the regions where zero
employment is reported. Greece (2,701 employed), France (2,501 employed),
Portugal (1,939 employed) and Finland (995) are the regions in which substantial
numbers are recorded. Women
in EU fisheries The
proportion of women in fish processing jobs shows some regional variations, the
highest levels being in Italy (about 87%). Employment of women in the Portuguese
processing sector is also high (over 70%). Lower levels of female employment in the sector are found in
the Netherlands (39%) and Greece (32%). High levels of female employment are
particularly associated with the (labour intensive) processing of canned tuna
and sardines. It is important to note that these sectors of the processing
industry are those which are most dependent on EU landings for their raw
material inputs. Employment multipliers
Fisheries
may be defined as the exploitation of living aquatic resources, and is pursued
for subsistence, economic and recreational purposes. Within the European Union
one of the principal benefits of this activity is the socio-economic impact on
jobs and incomes, not just in fishing, but also in up- and down-stream
activities. Whilst fisheries only contributes an estimated 0.2% of GDP of the
Union, the benefits frequently fall in areas which have few other alternative
economic activities. A recent study footnote 1) estimated that in 1997 the EU possessed some 17 regions at NUTS 3 level
(footnote 2) where fisheries accounted for more than 5% of the regions jobs. Higher levels of
dependency are found with smaller regions; at NUTS 4 or 5 level the study
identified at least 123 regions where more than 5% of the jobs were related to
fisheries.In
the EU, as elsewhere, fisheries-related employment is affected by several
factors. Like other industries based on exploitation of natural resources, it is
subject to changes in the resource base, and to global trends in supply and
demand, and to competitive pressures. The
restructuring of the fishing industry resulting from these factors is frequently
accompanied by unemployment and hardship for people who are dependent upon
fishing for their livelihoods. These effects have particular impact where a
whole community is affected, where other industries in the area are tied in
closely with the fishing industry, creating negative up- and down-stream
effects, and where there are few opportunities for finding alternative work. An
important part of the Common Fisheries Policy is to compensate for these
negative effects, by providing support, either directly or through investment in
job creation and training programmes.
In 1998, there were a total of 99,170 registered fishing vessels in EU Member
States. Total fishing power was just under 8 million kW, and the total tonnage
was just over 2 million GRT. Table
1 highlights the enormous variation in structural characteristics of the
EU fleet. Greece had the largest fleet in terms of numbers, with over 20,000
vessels (20% of the total), but over 93% of these vessels were under 12m in
length. Spain has the second largest fleet with almost 29% of the total tonnage
of the EU. This is despite 75% of the vessels being under 12m in length.Outside
the Mediterranean and the Baltic regions, the pattern of a small modern segment
of the fleet representing a large percentage of the capacity is common. For the
EU as a whole, 63% of the vessels are under 12m and 53% under 9 metres. In
Germany for example, out of a total of 2,373 vessels, 12 large trawlers
represent almost 50% of the fleet tonnage. Only in the Netherlands and Belgium
are there greater numbers of vessels over 12m than under. On the whole, the EU
fleet is an ageing fleet, with few vessels introduced in recent years - only 16%
of the total EU fleet had been purchased in the ten years previous to 1998. The
regions with relatively newer fleets are the Netherlands, Northern France,
Finland and Belgium.
EU
Fleet Structure,
1998
In
the EU 15 member states, landings of fish in 1990 were 6.38 million tonnes,
rising to 7.45 million tonnes in 1995. Since then they have declined to 6.3
million tonnes in 1998, with an estimated value of ECU 7.3 billion. Overall, the
EU fleet accounts for about 7.5% (by quantity) of global marine capture
fisheries.
The
processing sector provides markets for fish caught by EU fishermen, as well as
an important source of employment in fishery dependent ar
The
aquaculture sector is an important part of the EU fishery industry, with an
output in 1998 of 1.1 million tonnes (up from 0.94 million tonnes in 1990). The
EU accounted for 4% of total world aquaculture in production in 1997, and 8% of
marine aquaculture production.
Unlike
marine fish landings, there is no formal recording of catches from inland
fisheries. However, the sector is
not of major economic importance compared to other fishery sub-sectors, with an
estimated total production of 106,600 tonnes in 1997. Production appears to have
increased by about 17,000 tonnes throughout the last decade. Inland capture
fishing is of significance in only a few EU countries. Germany is by far the
largest producer, with 52,000 tonnes (nearly 50% of the total), although much of
this is dervied from re-stocking from aquaculture facilities. The main species
are carp, trout, eels and members of the perch family.
In 1998
the various parts of the EU fishery sector provided a total gross output of
about ECU 20 billion and provided direct employment for at least 514,054 people.
Table
2 provides a summary of output and employment by sector, with full-time
equivalent (FTE) and gender breakdown estimates also shown. Net sector output
will be somewhat less since a significant proportion of output is consumed
within the fisheries branch. For example, the outputs of marine fishing are
partially consumed by fish processing and, to an extent, by the aquaculture
sector. Because of the nature of fishing, numbers employed in this activity are
difficult to record and are often under-estimated, and the number employed in
the sector is likely to be higher than indicated above. By applying known
employment multipliers calculated for the EU fisheries sector (see Section
1.2.4) we can estimate total sector employment in 1998 to be about 550,000 (footnote
4).
Principal
economic dimensions of the EU fishery sector
Marine
fishing accounts for the largest share of direct employment in the sector
(241,010 jobs). Fish
The
distribution of employment in fish processing is quite different to that of
employment in marine fishing. Fish processing is more evenly distributed
throughout the EU, with the UK accounting for 18,140 jobs (20% of the EU total
in this activity). France, with 11,899 (13%) and Spain with 15,449 (17%)
employed also have significant employment in fish processing. Italy and Greece,
despite having relatively high numbers employed in fishing (18% and 17% of
fishers) have only relatively low levels of employment in processing (accounting
for 7% and 3% of processing employment). This is the converse of the situation
in Germany, which has a relatively large processing sector of 11,280 (13% of the
EU processing employment), compared to employment in fishing of only 2,932 (1%
of fishers).
Whereas
numbers employed in processing have fallen by 14%, employment in fishing has
declined by 21% over the same period. In many sectors of the EU processing
industry there is no directly proportional link between employment at sea and
employment in processing. It is
known that the EU imports substantial quantities of fish to be used as raw
material for processing and the importance of imported raw material in
sustaining employment in the fish processing industry is recognised by the
Common Fisheries Policy in the establishment of import tariffs for fishery
products.
The
aquaculture sector accounts for 61,898 of the fishery-related jobs in the EU
(about 15%) and more than 80% of these are in marine aquaculture. Spain and
France are the two countries with substantial employment in marine aquaculture,
with 14,500 employed in the former and 14,055 in the latter, between them
accounting for 57% of employment in the marine aquaculture sector. Most of these
jobs are in the culture of bivalve mollusca. Italy also has substantial
employment in this activity (8,665 jobs). Greece and UK (in particular Scotland)
are the two regions where there is a substantial production of fish (seabass/
seabream and salmon respectively). Here employment is lower at 2,910 (5.8% of EU
employed in the sector) and 1,617 (3
An
estimated 84,000 jobs in the fisheries sector were held by women throughout the
EU in 1998, as indicated in Table 2. Even in fishing, which is traditionally
regarded as a male preserve, women hold about 6% of the jobs. Female
participation is recorded in harvesting of bivalve molluscs in Spain and
Portugal, in an on-shore capacity in fishing enterprises in Belgium and Spain,
and in gear repair and preparation in Greece. Women also hold the majority of
jobs in fish processing (53,000 employed) and also fill an estimated 30% of the
47,000 jobs in aquaculture, especially those related to the production of
bivalve mollusca.