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A bio-economic analysis of long term changes in the production of French fishing fleets operating in the Bay of Biscay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2008

Fabien Steinmetz ,
Olivier Thébaud ,
Fabian Blanchard ,
Pascal Le Floch  and
Julien Bihel
Fabien Steinmetz
Affiliation:
UMR AMURE, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 12 rue Kergoat, CS 93837, 29238 Brest, France
Olivier Thébaud
Affiliation:
IFREMER, Marine Economic Dept, UMR-AMURE, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France
Fabian Blanchard
Affiliation:
IFREMER, Dep. Halieutique Méditerranéen & Tropical, Cayenne 97331, French Guiana
Pascal Le Floch
Affiliation:
IFREMER, Marine Economic Dept, UMR-AMURE, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France
Julien Bihel
Affiliation:
IFREMER, Marine Economic Dept, UMR-AMURE, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France
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Abstract

Selective fishing pressure on more highly valued marine living resources is one of the key factors proposed to explain changes occurring in fish communities and associated landings of commercial fisheries. The aim of this paper is to establish the nature of changes in the landings of French fishing fleets operating in the Bay of Biscay in the period 1973-2002, and whether these changes could be related to the relative economic attractiveness of different fish species. The analysis focuses on trends observed in the landings of all commercial fish species over the last three decades. It is based on data of annual quantities landed and ex-vessel prices compiled from official French landings records, and on bio-geographical descriptors of these species derived from published data. Using simple index numbers and multivariate analysis, we examined changes in total landings in terms of their volume and value, as well as changes in their composition. We show that the composition of landings significantly changed over the study period, with an increase in the proportion of pelagic species, of lower economic value. The average ex-vessel price of production by the fleets tended to decrease from the late 1980s; partly due to a cross-species drop in prices, occurring mainly after 1993, but also to the increased proportion of low-priced species in the landings. This caused a significant drop in the total gross value of production in the second half of the study period.

Keywords

French fisheries productionBio-economic analysisLong-term changesBay of BiscayNorth-Eastern Atlantic
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 21 , Issue 3: Special Issue (Advances in Fisheries Analysis and Modelling – Reversible and Irreversible Changes in Fish Resources and their usage) , July 2008 , pp. 317 - 327
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD, 2008

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