27/7/2007 - The price of seafood – a guide to low-cost processing

It may seem ironic, but Norwegian salmon is cheaper for Bulgarian consumers than for Norewgian consumers. (Photo: FIS)

WEEKEND FEATURE: The price of seafood – a guide to low-cost processing

EUROPEAN UNION
Friday, July 27, 2007, 23:50 (GMT + 9)


It is no problem for most of us to understand why Swiss people have to pay 42 per cent more than the average price paid by Europeans for their seafood. The country is landlocked. All seafood has to be shipped by air or land transport, in contrast to countries like the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which receive seafood from their own fishery fleet, or import seafood and have it landed in large quantities from reefers and other cargo vessels on their coastlines.

If you love eating seafood, and are willing to forget for a moment your preferences with regards to local culinary traditions, your budget will last longest in Lithuania. The price there is only 57 per cent of the European average. The second cheapest country is Bulgaria at 62 per cent, Turkey at 64 per cent, Bosnia Herzegovina at 65 per cent, and Poland at 67 per cent. These numbers, recently published by Eurostat, clearly tells one fact: a low level local seafood production does not result in higher prices.

Five lowest priced seafood producing countries Lithuania
57

Bulgaria
62

Turkey
64

Bosnia Herzegovina
65

Poland
67



Europe average =100
So, the most expensive seafood is found in Switzerland. Logistics cost money, so does allowing expensive Swiss labor handle seafood. However, surprisingly, Switzerland is joined by Cyprus, an island surrounded by water, in being the most expensive place to enjoy a seafood meal. Cyprus has a very small local fishery fleet. The waters around the islands are over-exploited and catches are low. In addition the fast growing tourist industry has increased the cost of operating the fishing fleet, and has pushed local retail prices up.

Highest production – highest prices

It is more surprising to find countries like Denmark and Norway being among the most costly countries in Europe to enjoy a seafood meal. Norway, being the world's second largest seafood exporter, landing enormous volumes from wild fisheries, in addition to being the leading supplier of farmed salmon in the world, should by all means be the country for seafood lovers to have the cheapest meal. However, it is not so.


Five highest priced seafood producing countries Cyprus
142

Switzerland
142

Denmark
138

Belgium
128

Norway
128



Europe average = 100

Using Norway as an example can also explain the cost structure making seafood cheap in places like Bosnia Herzegovina. To make it easy we use Norwegian salmon and Norwegian herring as two species, and follow them from vessel or farm all the way to consumer. We do not add value added tax or any sales tax in this sample.

Salmon to Norwegian consumer
EUR/KG

Delivered to slaughterhouse:
3.16

Wholesalers profit
0.76

Packaging transport to shop:
0.76

Mark up in retail shop
4.68

Total cost to consumer
11 .34




Salmon to Bulgarian consumer


Delivered to slaughterhouse:
3.16

Packaging transport to Thailand:
0.50

Transport to Thailand
0.25

Importer – wholesaler profit:
0.65

Local distribution cost
0.25

Mark up in shop
0.70

Total cost to consumer
5.51




Herring to Norwegian consumer


Price ex. vessel
0.50

Packaging/processing
0.50

Wholesalers profit
0.65

Mark up in shop
2.50

Total cost to consumer
4.15




Herring to Bulgarian consumer


Price ex. Norwegian vessel
0.50

Packaging/processing
0.50

Transport to Bulgaria
0.50

Wholesalers profit
0.20

Mark up in shop
0.60

Total cost to consumer
2.30




Source: Fis.com
The numbers above are estimates and meant to show the main factor establishing prices for seafood products in a given market. In addition fluctuations due to seasonal variations, campaigns and over and under supply will also influence prices.

No difference for primary producer

The interesting thing is, that the more expensive seafood is, the less is the share of the retail value kept by the primary producer, the fisher, or the farmer. A Norwegian purse seiner makes the same per kilo of herring sold in Norway, as it would for the salmon sold at a much lower price in a country like Bulgaria. The reason is mainly the markup in the wholesale and retail part of the line of transactions.

It costs effectively EUR 30 – 35 per hour to have a shop assistant in Norway prepare fish for the display, packaging it ,and receiving payment. The price in Bulgaria would be less than EUR 3 per hour. Similarly, the owners of a business who expect the profitability to be around 10 per cent of turnover, demand a much higher amount per hour in a high cost country than in a low cost country like Bulgaria.

Lithuania
57

Bulgaria
62

Turkey
64

Bosnia Herzegovina
65

Poland
67

Slovakia
68

Montenegro
70

Latvia
71

Estonia
73

Germany
73

Hungary
75

Czech Rep.
76

Malta
82

Serbia
82

Croatia
84

Albania
85

Romania
85

Spain
89

United Kingdom
91

Greece
101

Slovenia
102

France
106

Sweden
109

Luxembourg
110

Austria
111

Finland
111

Iceland
112

Netherlands
115

Italy
122

Ireland
123

Belgium
128

Norway
128

Denmark
138

Cyprus
142

Switzerland
142



Europe average = 100. Source: Eurostat
Shipping heads and bones long distances

In seafood processing, countries like Norway and Denmark try to benefit from being close to the fishery grounds and farms were the fish is produced. But it still pays to send whole gutted salmon to Poland for processing.

The saving on using Polish manpower is much greater than the cost of sending heads and bones thousand of kilometres away. Even if the large Norwegian processors fillet herring, removing 50 per cent of the live weight of the fish, does not pay to put the herring into jars in Norway. Polish workers do this job for less than a quarter of the cost of a Norwegian worker. Not all the work can be replaced by robots and machinery.

In reality the most important message in the statistics presented by Eurostat, is not the advice on where to go if you like to eat inexpensive seafood. Much more important is the message to seafood processors.

Filleting herring is hightly automotised, with little manpower involved, but production of ready to cook meals and other convenience food, cured herring, smoked salmon and trout, marinated products and so on, all need a high degree of manual labour. Machinery can not do it. For this very reason small Atlantic cod finds its way to China for filleting.

Even for legally caught cod, it costs too much to adjust filleting machines and then fillet the small cod onboard a Norwegian factory trawler or a land-based processing facility. The extra cost of slowing down machinery and having employees adjust the machinery for the small cod is higher than the cost involved in sending the fish to China.

At least it will continue this way until the environmental cost is added bt way of duties on transport, as is the case in Europe. Until duties on emission of CO2 and NOx make it a lot more expensive to transport unprocessed fish, it will be cheaper to process seafood in those countries where it costs less.

Smoked salmon

The price examples shown above also demonstrate how the lack of competition in markets sets the price.

Smoked salmon costs an average EUR 16-18 per kilo in Norway for whole side and vacuum-packed. The cost of the salmon fillets is around EUR 6.30 per kilo. The rest is profit and value added tax.

Some months ago the German discount outlet, Lidl, sold Norwegian smoked salmon for EUR 6.10 per kilo. The colouring of this salmon indicated it was necessary to sell it. The salmon was not the best quality with regards to colour.

Lidl could sell it at price paid to the smoker. They did not lose, neither did they cut a profit off of it. So in theory smoked salmon can be produced in any other European country at this price.

Add EUR 0.50 in transport costs, and 20 per cent profits to the retailer and 13 per cent value added tax and the price is EUR 9.22. In other word, it is just a question of time before Norwegian processors will face competition in the smoked salmon market from those countries listed as the cheapest for seafood.

Poland is growing increasingly more important as a seafood processor for the European market.

Filleted pangasius is imported from Vietnam and repacked and distributed all over the EU.

Germans are increasing the imports of processed herring in jars and tins from Poland.

Danish smokers discovered the way to survive high labour costs a long time ago: by smoking in Poland.

The country is the fifth cheapest place to consume seafood in Europe. Not because of large domestic supply. Not because of long traditions in processing of seafood, but because of low labour costs.

By Terje Engoe
www.fis.com

20/07/2007 - A fascinating market of opportunities

WEEKEND FEATURE: A fascinating market of opportunities

CROATIA
Friday, July 20, 2007, 23:50 (GMT + 9)


The nation's eafood imports are increasing, while local catches fall, despite the country having a lengthy coastline along the fish rich Adriatic Sea. Croatia is in a situation were everything is needed. The small country needs more efficient fishing vessels, better management of fish stocks, development of environmentally friendly aquaculture, and investments in more modern fish processing.

I am sitting at a small restaurant in the Island of Hvar. It is still a few weeks before hordes of tourists invade the small island, classed as one of the 10 most beautiful in the world by a famous international travel magazine.

I have ordered a dish of salmon; imported stuff, not because local seafood products are not available., but when wild salmon from Alaska carries the same price tag as a dish made with local mackerel, horse mackerel, or small undersized sea bream, the temptation to try the imported fish carries more weight.

It is a cutlet from a packet of frozen cutlets produced from whole imported salmon. Served with a thick curry sauce and rice., the cutlet is fried a bit more than any French chef would recommend and is an overall a boring presentation. But there are reasons why the restaurants are not serving better seafood. The market structure for imported seafood makes no incentives towards educating chefs.

Small population – many tourists

Croatia is not a large market., with a population of less than 4.5 million it is in many large exporters’ eyes a small to medium-sized one. This is maybe the reason why it looks like the Greenland-based company Polar Seafood has had success in exporting smoked Norwegian Atlantic salmon. The other salmon, is as earlier mentioned, Alaska salmon and is available in most supermarkets.

So, why go all the way across Europe to Alaska in North America to obtain salmon? Afterall the European market is flowing with salmon produced in United Kingdom, Norway, the Faroese Islands and Ireland... there are two simple reasons:

First off, Croatian consumers have no understanding of salmon. Their chefs have to use what is available, and most of them are uneducated for the most part in fine cuisine even. But they have been given a golden opportunity to make money during the frenzy of tourist season when more than 10 million tourists throng to their restaurants, hotels, and other related venues.

However, Atlantic farmed salmon can not compete in price on a market were salmon is not differentiated into different products and species by consumers.

From communism to semi-monopoly

There is one more important reason why imports are a viable option. Gone for more than a decade, communism and state-controlled life under dictator Josip Broz Tito, is now open to market forces. The Croatian market is dominated by one large conglomerate by the name Agrokor, with 20,000 employees and a turnover of EUR 7-8 billion. In a small country these numbers make them a mammoth.

This conglomerate operates their own supermarket chain, which is the country’s leader, and they dominate the ice-cream market with products from their own factories, as well as margarine and vegetable oils. The largest slaughterhouses and meat processors, the dominating mineral water producers, and of course the import, processing, distribution and retail of frozen seafood is also dominated by Agrokor.

Most of Agrokor's seafood is produced under the labels Irida and Ledo. Irida, a subsidiary of Ledo, has 60 different products varying from herring, horse mackerel, fish fingers, sardines, mackerel, octopus, squid, shrimp and lots of products. Ledo is Croatia’s main importer of hoki from New Zealand, hake and squid from Argentina, Atlantic cod and Atlantic redfish from Iceland, sprat from the Baltic’s, salmon from Alaska, among others. They are sold as cutlets, breaded, fingers, and of course in large catering packs.

Interesting opportunities

The dominating role of Agrokor may result in less choice of products available. Companies able to secure a contract with an Agrokor subsidiary, have the chance to be a main supplier in the Croatian market. For a company with limited resources for marketing is there may better prospects in being the sole supplier of a product in Croatia than being one out of hundreds of suppliers in EU, United States or Japan.

For companies like Ledo, the dominating position in the market is worth gold. Since 1998 they not reported one single year with a negative result. Last year a record profit of HRK 44.1 million (EUR 6.2 million) was posted.

There is of course other opportunities than selling to subsidiaries belonging to Agrokor. But this is a market mainly for smaller nouvelle products. In short, the Croatian market is a fascinating one, with possibilities for making good business if the door has been opened up first by one of the Agrokor subsidiaries.

The local production

The local seafood industry is mainly based on feeding small bluefin tuna caught in the Mediterranean, processing of mackerel, sardines and anchovies caught by the local fleet, in addition to artisan fisheries with fast diminishing importance.

Most local fishermen are supplying their catches to restaurants catering to tourists. A quick look on the menu shows that many of the available dishes are fish stews made from whatever is available. The dishes are traditional Croatian cuisine, but hardly enough to satisfy the varied demand from the fast increasing numbers of tourists arriving in Croatia. This also explains why the import of seafood to the small country with the lengthy coastline and many islands, is rocketing.

Except for the tuna grown out of farms, the other farms produce species like sea bass and gilthead sea bream of varying technological level. A lack of capital, know how, and an educated workforce makes the development in the aquaculture sector cumbersome. Tuna grow out farms are also facing tougher times as it is getting more and more difficult to obtain small tuna due to increasing restrictions on wild fishery.

Other opportunities

Croatia is looking to introduce new indigenous fish and shellfish species, as well as to modernizing its existing fishing and processing facilities. This also represents opportunities for companies with expertise in aquaculture, seafood processing, distribution, exports, and so on, in addition to those who have gear to supply.

The fish population in the Adriatic Sea is low, but the diversity of species is broad. In 2005, the registered catch of sea-fish and other marine organisms was 34,636 tonnes. Small pelagic fish dominate with more than 80 per cent of the catch. There are more than 30 fish processing businesses that manufacture a variety of fish products and produce about 15,000 tonnes of products annually, of this, 70 per cent of the production is canned sardines. Despite having a number of canneries, the Croatian market is still open for imported canned products. As an example Croatia last year was the second most important non-EU market for Spanish canned seafood for the first quarter of this year.

Imports and exports

Although Croatia exports seafood, imports are also quite significant. Moreover, Croatia’s seafood imports increased from USD 33 million in 2000 to USD 105 million in 2006. This trend is expected to continue. In 2006, Croatia imported fish mostly from Spain worth USD 15.8 million, France USD 10.1 million, Italy USD 8 million, and Sweden USD 7.6 million.

Croatia
Seafood Imports

Destination
USD 1000

2004
2005
2006

World
70,692
96,886
104,757

Spain
17,465
15,973
15,793

France
2,030
9,853
10,145

Italy
7,263
6,586
8,132

Sweden
4,207
5,402
7,595

Falkland Islands
3,139
8,547
7,206

Thailand
4,094
5,282
5,536

Argentina
4,547
4,877
5,527

Norway
3,861
5,452
5,045

Iceland
1,631
2,279
4,251

United States
1,724
2,727
3,683

Denmark
4,310
5,429
3,493

Netherlands
1,310
1,747
3,063

United Kingdom
1,738
2,545
2,658

Libya
0
3,205
2,373

China
64
623
2,032

Slovenia
1,534
1,316
1,776

New Zealand
1,268
1,799
1,677

Poland
865
832
1,207

Morocco
583
899
1,197

Estonia
217
802
1,103

The rest
8,842
10,713
11,265





Croatia
Seafood Exports

Origin
USD 1000

2004
2005
2006

World
103,753
97,117
158,952

Japan
53,754
35,265
88,737

Italy
29,454
38,765
47,520

Serbia and Montenegro
4,332
6,419
6,551

Bosnia & Herzegovina
7,768
7,267
4,609

Slovenia
3,854
3,544
3,577

Spain
87
2,236
2,309

Macedonia
1,138
1,358
1,361

The rest
3,367
2,262
4,288








In 2005, bluefin tuna accounted for more than 63 per cent of total fish exports. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovenia, and Macedonia are the main market for Croatia’s export of canned sardines, mackerel, and anchovies. Farmed white-fleshed fish is mainly exported to Italy and Spain, while almost all of Croatia’s farmed tuna exports go to Japan.

By Terje Engoe
www.fis.com

13/07/2007 - The inside story of squid, octopus and cuttlefish

WEEKEND FEATURE: The inside story of squid, octopus and cuttlefish

WORLDWIDE
Friday, July 13, 2007, 23:50 (GMT + 9)


Octopus, squid and cuttlefish are important commercial species for fishing fleets worldwide. We catch, process and eat this fascinating group of marine animals, which are extremely valuable as food for human consumption.

One who knows a lot about cephalopods is the MAR-ECO scientist Mike Vecchione, who has written the article below, in which he presents a brief, popular description of them.

The Class Cephalopoda includes decapodiforms, such as squids and cuttlefishes, octopodiforms, including the vampire squid as well as a variety of octopods, and their more distant relatives, the chambered nautiluses.

These molluscs are characterised by a well-developed head that contains a circumoral (surrounding the mouth) crown of arms that bear suckers and/or hooks (except in Nautilus). The mouth has chitinous beak-like jaws and a chitinous tongue-like radula (band of teeth).

The shell is reduced, modified, or absent and is enclosed by the mantle. An external shell occurs only in Nautilus (restricted to Indo-Pacific), although a shell-like egg case is found in female argonauts. The size of adult cephalopods ranges from about 2 centimeter to over 20 meter in total length; largest specimens may weigh over 1 tonne.

Cephalopods are soft-bodied animals. Their primary skeletal features include a cartilaginous cranium and, in most forms, a rigid structure in the mantle composed of chitin (gladius or "pen"), calcium carbonate (cuttlebone), or cartilage (fin supports in finned octopods). They have one pair of gills, except for the Nautilus, which has two pairs. The central nervous system is highly developed especially the well-organised eyes.

Coloration

Coloration is variable depending on group and habitat; most species are provided with numerous chromatophores (pigment sacs controlled by neuromuscular action) and iridocytes (shiny, reflective platelets) in the skin.

Rapid changes in colour and colour patterns are an integral part of their behaviour.

While shallow-living cephalopods are able to conceal themselves by chromatophore-produced colour patterns and chameleon-like colour changes, many deep-sea forms camouflage themselves by producing bioluminescent light from photophores (light-producing organs) which eliminates their silhouettes against the down welling light in the dimly-lit mid-depths.

Respiration and locomotion

Water is taken into the mantle (body) cavity for respiration. A funnel or siphon (a small ventral tube) expels the water from the mantle cavity for propulsion and elimination of waste products, in addition to completion of the respiratory cycle. Locomotion is achieved by drawing water into the mantle cavity followed by its jet-like expulsion through the funnel, and by fins on the mantle, as well as by crawling along the bottom on the arms (mostly octopods). Fins also provide balance and steering.

Life history

The sexes are separate. Many, though not all, cephalopod species exhibit external sexual dimorphism, either in structural or size differences. Males of many forms possess a modified arm (hectocotylus) for mating. The hectocotylus may consist of modified suckers, papillae, membranes, ridges and grooves, flaps, etc., but in any case it functions to transfer the spermatophores (sperm packets) from the male to an implanta-tion site on the female. The spermatophores may be implanted inside the mantle cavity, around the mantle opening on the neck, in a pocket under the eye, around the mouth, etc. The mode of reproduction and egg-laying is unknown for many forms, especially oceanic and deep-sea species.

The life expectancy appears to be about one to two years in most forms, but larger species of squids and octopus, for example, the giant squid (Architeuthis spp.) and the giant octopus (Enteroctopus spp.), must live at least somewhat longer. Conversely, small oceanic species such as pyroteuthids may complete their life cycles in less than six months. Some species die after spawning, but this phenomenon is not universal.

The female lays eggs that are heavily yolked. Cephlapod development is direct, without true metamorphic stages. Cephalopod eggs may vary in size from about 1.7 centimeter long in some Octopus species to 0.8 millimter long in Argonauta, both octopods. Time of embryonic development also varies widely, from a few days to many months, depending on the species and temperature conditions. Hatching may occur rapidly from a single clutch or be extended over a period of 2 to 3 weeks. Eggs have one or more layers of protective coatings and generally are laid as egg masses. Egg masses may be benthic or pelagic, varying among major taxonomic groups. Hatchlings from benthic eggs may be either benthic, and morphologically similar to the older stages, or planktonic. Pelagic hatchlings are planktonic and, in some species, very different from more developed conspecifics (members of the same species). The term "paralarva" has been adopted for early stages of cephalopods that differ morphologically and ecologically from older stages.

Systematics

The total number of living species of cephalopods currently recognized is less than 1,000. The status of the systematics of cephalopods is rapidly changing, as research has increased significantly in the past 25 years. Cephalopods occur in all marine habitats of the world, though none are found at salinities less than about 17.5 PSU. The range of depths extends from 0 to over 5,000 meters. Many species of oceanic cephalopods undergo daily vertical migrations, wherein they occur at depths of about 400 to 1,000 meters during the day, then ascend into the uppermost 200 meters or so during the night. Abundance of cephalopods varies (depending on group, habitat, and season) from isolated territorial individuals (primarily benthic octopods) through small schools with a few dozen individuals to huge schools of oceanic species with millions of squids.

Cephalopods of the northern Atlantic Ocean

Two groups of cephalopods, decapods and octopods, are common in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The major groups are easily distinguished by external characteristics. The squids have an elongate body with lateral fins, and eight circumoral arms with stalked suckers in two or more rows and bearing chitinous rings (sometimes modified into hooks), plus two longer tentacles with an organized cluster (tentacular club) of two to many rows of suckers (or hooks) at the distal end. The octopods have a short, sac-like body generally with no lateral fins (some deep-sea octopods have a pair of paddle-like fins), and eight circumoral arms only (no tentacles) with unstalked suckers without chitinous rings along the length of the arms. Sepiolid decapods (bobtail squids) also have a short, sac like body, but have fins and an arm crown similar to that of the squids.

Cephalopods in the food chain

Cephalopods are active predators that feed upon shrimps, crabs, fishes, other cephalopods, and, in the case of octopods, on bivalved molluscs. In turn, cephalopods are major food items in the diets of toothed whales, seals, pelagic birds (penguins, petrels, albatrosses, etc.), and both benthic and pelagic fishes (e.g., sea basses, lancetfishes, tunas, billfishes).

Cephalopods are extremely important as food for human consumption, and well over one million tonnes are caught each year. The fisheries are especially intense in Japan, the Orient and in the Medi-terranean/Eastern Atlantic waters. Fishing techniques include small traps (octopods), wiers, lures and jigs (some cuttlefishes and squids), lampara nets (nearshore squids), and midwater and otter trawls (squids and octopods). Certain species of squids are attracted to light, then jigged or seined. Occasionally cuttlefishes and octopods are caught in hand-nets or are speared.

Cephalopods in science

Cephalopods are important experimental animals in biomedical research with direct application to man. Because of the highly developed brain and sensory organs, cephalopods have a great capacity to learn and remember, rendering them valuable in behavioural and comparative neuroanatomical studies. In addition, some cephalopods possess extremely large single nerve axons and these are used extensively in all aspects of neurophysiological research.

View a photogallery showing a diverse selection of squids collected by Dr. Vecchione during a research cruise to Bear Sea Mount, on the western side of the mid-Atlantic Ridge.

By Mike Vecchione, MAR ECO,
edited by FIS.com


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06/07/2007 - Fuel efficiencient fishery a future must

WEEKEND FEATURE: Fuel efficiencient fishery a future must

WORLDWIDE
Friday, July 06, 2007, 23:50 (GMT + 9)


Reduced quotas, shrinking fishing vessels' sizes, restrictions on landed volumes per trip, are all structural changes assaulting the fishing industry worldwide. These changes will certainly provoke conflicts, as has been seen already, and there will be even more lay offs and monopolisation of fishing rights will increase, until some sound solutions can be found.

Many governments distribute quotas evenly to a large number of fishing vessels to keep as many as possible vessels profitable. There are large modern vessels moored at harbours most of the year as a result of small quotas. Other times the same vessels have to venture far out to the deep sea to get their maximum allowed catch per day of operations.

Small, old, inefficient vessels are catching fish when larger more fuel-efficient vessels are remaining idle. In many countries this has been a way to protect demographic structures, keeping people from not migrating to the urban areas.

Cars are being made to run on biofuel, and engine volume is restricted to limited emissions of pollutants. Some countries are enforcing duties on vessels emitting nitrogen oxides. It may put money in the coffers of the government, but is not necessarily reducing pollution.

If three small purses einers are steaming three days each way to catch 100 tonnes each, it is easy to understand that if one of these vessels, or one larger vessel, could do this job in one trip, the environment would have been saved from cubic tonnes of CO2 and other polluting emissions. But this is a fragile area, as it favours larger modern vessels against smaller vessels.

It is also more environmentally friendly to catch fish close to processing plants. But in many countries vessels fare orced to deliver their catch for political reasons at a plant that may be days away. Or an auctioning system may be in place making it profitable for the owners to sail a couple of days extra to land their catch. This of course not profitable for the world environment as it increases pollution.

In Norway whitefish vessels are obligated to deliver catch at specific processing plants, and not necesarily the most convenient plant. Of course the shipowner would steam far away with the catch if it increased the value of it, but the intention of the Norwegian system is to keep factories running in the far north. It is politics that is driving policy, and about giving rural people work where they are living.

There is a large fleet of purse seiners operating off the coast of Peru, supplying fishmeal plants with raw material. Many of these vessels are old and have very inefficient engines. To modernize them costs money that many vessels owners do not have. A lower number of more efficient vessels could both improve the quality of the fish being landed and keep the emission of CO2 down.

Today it is possible to build environmentally friendly vessels, as modern technology can reduce emissions. Combined with a more environmentally friendly logistics, millions of tonnes of CO2 could be stopped from entering the atmosphere.

Fishing and energy

There is no doubt purse seiners are more energy efficient than pelagic trawling, howeer, little is known with regards to the difference between gillnetting and longlining, or longlining vs. bottom trawl. Neophrops can be caught with trawl, but also by using pots. In the future the use of energy per unit of landed fish wil be more and more important. The fishing industry will not escape the cost of CO2 emissions.

FIS.com contacted sales manager Jan W. Lybekk in Mustad Longlining, possibly the world's largest producer of high-tech automatic longlining gear. But according to Lybekk there is no research by Mustad in energy efficiency and the difference in environmental impact of longlining vs. other fishing methods. For a long time there has been an established truth in the fishing industry that longlining is very effective in decreasing bycatch of unwanted species and undersized fish. Not much is known, however, about energy usage per tonne of fish compared with other fishing methods.

Favouring large corporations

Future engines will have to find the correct balance between efficiency and emissions. Hull design must focus on low energy use more than just speed. Global warming will in fact make the industry put less focus on time and more on the energy needed to catch and deliver the product. Politicians will be forced to think environmentally when they are distributing quotas and regulating fisheries in other ways.

Perhaps it is better to let one large vessels incorporate the quotas of 20 smaller vessels, or maybe it is more efficient to let 20 small modern vessels using longline or gillnets to catch the quota held by a large trawler. But how will the fishers left on land be compensated?

Development towards a more environmentally friendly fishery may be the dream for large corporations. They have the capital needed to invest in new technologies. The alternative is to force large numbers of smaller vessels to co-operate and organise their operations in more environmentally friendly manner. This is a minefield for politicians.

Small changes brings big benefits

A trawl door is not just a trawl door. There are lots of parametres involved in choosing the right trawl door, be it bottom trawl or pelagic trawl. The wrong door can increase the fuel usage by 5 to 10 per cent. The opening of the trawl has to be not only fishing effectively, but also render as fish as possible per tonne of fuel. As fuel prices have been increasing, this focus has been increasing in importance, and is indirectly resulting in more environmentally friendly trawling.

Thyborøn Skibssmedie is one of the companies developing trawl doors with increasing focus on fuel economy.

“Trials we have done in a research tank have shown that the right choice of trawl door can decrease the fuel consumption, without decreasing trawling speed or catch rates. For a large trawler is a saving of 3 to 5 per cent fuel increasing profitability substantially. And in addition is this a plus in an environmental perspective”, says sales manager Jan Bundgaard at Thyborøn Skibssmedie to FIS.com.

In reality the future focus on product development will be more and more towards lower fuel consumption and lower emissions.

The Faroese company is building a new trawler at Karstensens Skibsvært in Skagen, Denmark. The vessel will be 81 metres and be delivered in August 2009. The vessel will have a capacity to carry a catch of 2,700 tonnes of pelagic fish in RSW.

Despite the Faroese Government not having introduced any levies on the release of nitrogen oxide, as Norway is starting to collect from the fishing fleet, the vessel owners are investing big money in technology making the vessel release only 1 – 2 gram of NOx per KwH, against 18 grammes as the norm for fishing vessels.

The company expects a levy to be enforced on these emissions, and the investment will be profitable compared with paying a environmental levy. The extra cost involved in making the vessel an environment friendly vessel is EUR 500,000.

Building a new vessel today, will be an absurd project if that vessel is not made fuel efficient with low emissions of CO2 and NOx. And it is absurd to expect fisheries to be organised in the same way in the future as they are today. Environmental concerns, emissions and pollution, global warming and fuel efficient catch efforts are all words the industry will have to keep in mind, to be able to keep doing business.

By Terje Engoe
www.fis.com

06/07/2007 - CeDePesca and the Argentine hake: News to celebrate, but much to do

REPORT OF THE WEEK: CeDePesca and the Argentine hake: News to celebrate, but much to do

(ARGENTINA, 7/6/2007) The fishing authorities detected in Port Madryn and Mar del Plata (Argentina) significant underdeclarations of hake, which pretended to be unloaded as different species. The operatives, who were monitored directly by the National Office of Fishery Coordination, highlighted the insufficiencies and problems of transparency of the fishery controls on land and sea. In the case of Port Madryn, the detected case, in a reefer of Spanish origin, it is even more serious since it is about a frozen and packaged product ready for export, which could result in a smuggling attempt, and two other ships were detected as they were about to enter the port.
The news is encouraging, since as there is a generalized consensus in recognizing certain achievements in the management of the hake fishery (works effectively in the satellite control, there is a greater annual previsibility, the Unload Control Commission starts to work, the cutback of quotas of 11% takes effect), moreover the facts impose the reality of the resource which demonstrates that these efforts are insufficient to ensure sustainability.

This year's INIDEP reports have yet to see the light of day which would confirm a significant damage on the health of both hake stocks, but the fishing travels verify that, except for the Golfo San Jorge, the juvenile percentages are very low, which corroborate the poor recruitment this year. This is very concerning, considering the low level of reproductive biomass set to generate better recruitments in the following years.

In these reports which are yet to be published, a need for cut back once again will arise in the unloading of each ship. But the measurement would enjoy a very scarce consensus within the sector, which demands, with reason, that first the control system gaps be covered from where the hakes no one is recording are getting away. "If we do not procede in such way, the ones who will pay the price of the resource's health will always be the ones that lie the least", they state, with bother.

The first gap is a usual craftiness in the unloadings: up to 10 percent of the underdeclaration is tolerated by the authorities, based on the fact that refrigerated ships do not have a balance on board and the captain estimates the total tonnage captured based on volumes (boxes) and the criterium is correct. But once the real weight of the unloading on dock is established, the authorities do not substract that amount from the quota, instead they substract it from the amount declared when caught. This way, every ship increases its own quota by 5-10%, which annually represents approximately 25 thousand tonnes of hake. The soultion is obvious and quite simple.

The second gap is more serious: with the complicity of some inspectors onboard and dock inspectors some species are declared in the stead of others. In Port Madryn, as it has been proved in last week's case, the longtail hake is the favourite disguise for some reefers. In Mar del Plata this varies.

Not everyone practices this sport, which up to now has not been too dangerous, and those who play in the major leagues are known, and are amongst those "caught" last week.

It is difficult to quantify, but it is possible that this business a few are practicing, in these two ports alone, will cost the natural heritage of every Argentine at leaste 50 thousand tonnes of hake. The Unloading Control Commission, together with the participation of the private sector as an auditor of the unloadings, may contribute to solving this, but it must be strongly supported by the Fishing and Coast Guard authorities with transparent information in time and form, and with physical securities.

Operations such as these are encouraging, but must have clear consequences and continuity in order to generate trust and adecuate conducts amongst those involved in the sector.

Third gap: Rawson. Quota assigned, approximately 10 thousand tonnes. Declared unloadings in 2005 with no legal consequence: close to 25 thousand tonnes. The declared unloadings by a journalism interview: 35 thousand tonnes. When the intention of carrying out an audit was made known, threats were received and the audit never came through.

A number will have to be cleared, say 18 thousand tonnes? And not change it. In order to carry this out, as well as improving the unloading control, the effort will have to be regulated (fishing days by ship) during the summer season in Isla Escondida, a reproduction zone, since the Rawson and Caleta Cordova fleets, originally made up by small wooden ships, have progressed and replaced most of this ships by steel ships, with a greater security, navigability and habitability, but also of a gretaer fishing capacity. This way, 17 thousand tonnes of reproducers could be preserved.

In Comodoro Rivadavia we have the fourth gap. There the reefer fleet which operates in the San Jore Golf tends to meet with dense schools of juvenile fish which, for the most part, are eliminated. Double crime in times of poor recruitments. With adecuate measuring controls from Coast Guard ships, securing the use of selective arts and the zone change in time and form to avoid those concentrations could rescue at least 10 to 15 tonnes of juvenile hake, some 50 million fish, most of which could reach adulthood and contribute to the reproductive process and the recovery of the resource.

The eliminations of juvenile fish are, generally, a great problem. They have less commercial value which motivates the crew to prefer the bigger specimens, since their income is related to the volume and type of fish caught. This remuneration system should be replaced at some point for one that will motivate the quality and not discriminate size. This will contribute to creating a favourable climate for the use of selective fishing gears.

The use of available technology to determine fishing zones and hours of trawling should replace the catch declarations, which are almost always false. And the eye training of the civil employees from SENASA and Customs, as well as the cross control of these organisms, those of Pesca and the AFIP, should complement those of the unloading with the ends to minimize the impact of the commercialization circuits in black and trafficking.

If with these measures, which would imply saving 100 to 150 thousand tonnes of hake, the stocks should not give any signs of recovery, it will be time to agree on new cut backs on the quotas, which will at the same time be accompanied by economic measures from the State, which will support workers and the businessmen during the resource recovery process.

The fishery investigation politics is a subject which deserves to be discussed. The use of technology to ensure the veracity of the information, the increase on quantity of observers on board, the improvement on the showing of the unloading, the realization of the campaigns in time and form, the cientific independece from the evaluation team - free from political pensions - and the periodical revision by peers are basic conditions to better know what is taking place under the water with this very important Argentine fishing resource. And at the same time to determine management methodologies more adaptive and in real time.

This is urgent. But in the mean time, a plan will have to be made for the reduction and reorientation of the overcapacity of fishing and processing. Added value, aquaculture, underexploited species (there are some left) should be part of an incentive package within the economical politics for the sector which will have to include the financing of the removal from the excess of the capacity and incentives for the replacement of the obsolete units for modern ships of equal or minor fishing capacity.

The information was provided by CeDePesca, Centro Desarrollo y Pesca Sustentable (Center for Development and Sustainable Fishery), which is a non governmental organization, based in Mar del Plata, Argentina, who's mission is to work for a fishery activity which will be socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.




More about: CeDePesca

Phone: +54 (223) 489 6397
Fax: +54 (223) 489-9697
E-Mail: lared@cedepesca.org.ar