Availability and usefulness of economic data on the effects of aquaculture: a North Atlantic comparative assessment

Abstract

This paper focuses on the availability of economic indicators and metrics to assess effects of marine aquaculture production in the North Atlantic area (the EU, Norway, Canada and USA), including also social and environmental effects. We consider how aquaculture planning and management is organised in the different countries and the usefulness of economic information to address different aquaculture-related policies. We find that the most relevant economic data for aquaculture management should be at the local and regional levels rather than nationally. The availability of such economic data is mapped for national, regional and local level. The focus is on data that are publicly available from authorities or research institutions. The availability of data is generally fairly good for national and regional data on the direct economic effects of aquaculture. Data on how aquaculture-related products or input markets are affected are however poorly available, as are economic data on external effects from aquaculture. Countries with a larger aquaculture sector tend to have better availability of aquaculture-related economic data than those with a smaller sector. An index is developed and calculated to show more specifically where the countries have relatively good or poor data availability compared to their needs. While it will not always be cost-effective or meaningful to collect economic data on the effects of aquaculture, our study indicates that several countries could benefit from expanding such data collection. It can make trade-off decisions more consistent and easier to perform, and aquaculture policies and measures can be better tailored to specific contexts.

Planning and licensing for marine aquaculture

“…In addition to environmental data used for environmental models, in planning and licensing it can also be relevant to have economic data. Combining economic impacts like employment and income for the wider society, with economic data on environmental impact, like valuations, can make comparisons and trade‐off decisions easier and more transparent 260 . Mikkelsen et al 260 showed the availability of relevant economic data on aquaculture.…”

The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions™ as a tool for enhancing the sustainable development of marine aquaculture

“…NbS Criterion 4 brings up the discussion of what may be considered a truly viable economic aquaculture system that considers social issues (Hughes, 2021), although the terms "inclusiveness" and "equity" are not explicitly mentioned in the Criterion's indicators. Criterion 4 also implies that positive and negative externalities must be fully identified and measured despite the difficulty of doing so due to insufficient economic data, in particular at a sub-national level (Mikkelsen et al, 2021). This also means going beyond conventional micro-and macro-economic and financial indicators (e.g., gross and net incomes, accountable added value, and Gross Domestic Profit (Costanza et al, 2016)).…”

Sustainability outcomes of aquaculture eco‐certification: Challenges and opportunities

“…Overall, complex social-ecological interactions and context specificity make the social and economic impacts of aquaculture difficult to predict, 90,91 and adding to that difficulty, economic data on the effects of aquaculture is not available at the local scale in many regions. 97 The complex reality of the impact of aquaculture at multiple scales is not well reflected in eco-certification criteria. Although some criteria include far-field considerations directly (e.g., considering the effects of fish escapes) 35,98 and indirectly (e.g., promoting coordination amongst producers), 35 aquaculture eco-certification largely focuses on farm-scale criteria and lacks ecosystem perspectives.…”

“…For example, when food security is prioritised globally, maximising production to meet this demand puts pressure on local systems. Overall, complex social–ecological interactions and context specificity make the social and economic impacts of aquaculture difficult to predict, 90,91 and adding to that difficulty, economic data on the effects of aquaculture is not available at the local scale in many regions 97 …”