Summary report on social and economic aspects of fishing for online tool

SEAwise research

To build an understanding of how fisheries contribute socially and economically, and how management tools can capture these contributions under an EBFM approach, this report brings together work from across the SEAwise work stream to explore:

• A comparison of Small‑Scale Fisheries (SSF) vs Large‑Scale Fisheries (LSF) in social and economic terms. 
• How the fishing sector links into broader economic sectors (supply chain effects). 
• The role of fishing communities in the social and economic framework. 
• How fuel price changes affect fish prices and the economics of fleets. 
• Carbon/CO₂ emissions (“carbon footprint”) across different gear types, vessel sizes, and regions. 

The report integrates ten SEAwise deliverables, highlighting advances in methods for integrating socio-economic factors in fisheries management. This includes: 

• Enhanced economic (e.g. fuel costs, price dynamics) and behavioural sub-models  (incorporating how fishers make decisions).
• Development of social indicators reflecting employment, wages, vulnerability, and community reliance.
• A structured methodology to evaluate the health impacts of fish consumption, integrated nutritional benefits, and contaminant risks.
• Governance assessments through surveys and case studies.

The work strengthens the capacity of mixed-fisheries models to support EBFM, linking ecological, economic, social, and health objectives.

Results

The work confirmed the feasibility of estimating future socio-economic indicators using bio-economic models, while also demonstrating the added value of explicitly linking ecological and social objectives. Across case studies, a consistent pattern emerged: SSF dominate in terms of vessel numbers and employment, while LSF contribute more to landings and economic value. The balance between these factors varies considerably between regions, highlighting the importance of tailoring management strategies to local contexts.

In general, this research has shown that SSFs tend to have lower carbon footprints than large‑scale fleets, mainly because LSFs use more fuel as they often travel further and use more active gears. However, in most cases, SSFs also have lower landing values (i.e. revenue) than LSFs. From a social perspective, SSFs often make up a large part of employment, and in some cases, exceed LSFs.

Fuel price appears to influence fish prices, though the strength and significance of the effect vary across species and region. The economic performance of LSFs is more strongly impacted by fuel cost increases than SSFs. Fuel costs are a vulnerability, especially for large fleets, meaning that volatile fuel prices threaten economic viability.