The case for biodegradable fishing gear fish premiums in the Newlyn wholesale market

Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) poses a threat to sustainable fisheries management through environmental impacts including ghost fishing. Biodegradable fishing gear (BFG) has the potential to mitigate the ghost fishing impact of ALDFG however, reduced fishing efficiency (reduced catch per unit of effort) has been identified in various studies as one of the main limiting factors of implementing BFG. Our economic impact analysis for the English Channel fishery found that the majority of costs to fishers in terms of BFG use arise not from investment and maintenance costs but rather the impact of reduced fishing efficiency i.e. BFG gear catches less fish per unit of effort compared to traditional gear. We then address the potential for higher market prices for BFG fish to offset the economic cost to fishers given the current technical shortcomings of BFG. We elicit wholesalers’ attitudes in the Newlyn market towards issues surrounding BFG, especially the potential impact on price. We find that there is limited potential for BFG fish to achieve higher market prices in the Newlyn wholesale market, respondents were more likely to use the tag of ‘BFG fish’ as a factor to drive demand. Further research is, therefore, required to address the issues that culminate in reduced fishing efficiency, and we conclude that BFG implementation is a technical problem and not an economic one.