Fishing methods for Atlantic cod and haddock: Quality and price versus costs

Abstract

This study explores trade-offs between fish quality, fishing efficiency, costs and profitability across three different vessel groups in the Norwegian groundfish fishery, that is, vessels fishing with bottom trawls, longlines and Danish seines. The results of hedonic price analysis at the ex-vessel level of the value chain indicate substantial differences in fish quality as Atlantic cod caught with longlines obtain price premiums of 15.0 % and 12.6 % compared with bottom trawling and Danish seining, respectively, holding other variables constant. For haddock, longlining obtains a price premium of 20.0 % compared with Danish seining and 13.3 % compared with bottom trawling. However, despite better quality and prices, the costs of fishing are substantially higher for longliners than for bottom trawlers and Danish seiners, which explains the differences in profitability favoring the more technically efficient bottom trawlers and Danish seiners. Policy implications are discussed considering trade-offs between fish quality, ex-vessel prices and vessel profitability. In a highly regulated fishery such as the Norwegian groundfish fishery, with individual vessel and vessel group quotas based on historical fishing rights, policy intervention is important for optimal use of limited fish stocks but is not necessarily straightforward.