Offshore Aquaculture Economics: Key US Report
August 1st, 2008 by MichelleGlobally, interest in aquaculture and the benefits it brings, is continually increasing. The US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently published a report examining the economic potential and prospect for success of offshore aquaculture in the US.
The report, titled Offshore Aquaculture in the United States: Economic Considerations, Implications & Opportunities, was developed by leading fisheries and resource economists and business experts. The report examined the following in the context of the US:
- Trends and factors shaping aquaculture today;
- Forces that will drive it in the future;
- Inputs and outputs necessary to sustain its growth;
- Economic consequences of offshore aquaculture development in the United States; and
- Benefits and costs of such a domestic industry to the nation.
Additional information on the report can be found on the NOAA website at this link.
Tags: aquaculture research, Offshore Aquaculture
Posted in Economics. Permalink for this post: permalink.
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August 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Michelle, there is some good work here. The framework for offshore aquaculture economics on page 27 is particularly useful.
September 12th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Above document gives valuable understanding about the recent trends in the aquaculture industry. It is interesting to know that to match the equilibrium price for the fish with the inshore competitors is very hard.
It can be met only if the demand for the fish increases driving the demand curve outside, increasing the price. OR inshore sites decrease sufficiently (which is probably possible taking increasing demand into account)
Challenges faced by offshore aquacultre:-
Technical challenges like construction-installation- operation and maintaining costs of cages
Increase mooring costs due to high water depths.
Transport costs like labor, fish feed, fuel costs which can’t be ignored.
Lack of experience in implementing offshore fishing facilities and risk and higher costs involved in it.
Advantages:-
Excellent water quality-better feed conversion ratio, faster growth rate
Availability of sites
Fewer regulatory conflicts in regards to recreational sites.
No seasonal and environmental fluctuations so that consumers enjoy benefit from year-round availability of a species, allowing demand to grow as consumption becomes more frequent.
Standardized procedure of aquaculture species, producers are able to supply a homogeneous product of similar size, quality, and consistency throughout the year. All the stakeholders of the industry like distributors, consumers, and the market all benefit from this reliability in supply, quality.
Also, Consumers are becoming increasingly interested how and where the fish food is produced and harvested, and awareness of the ’food miles concept’- As, consumers are concerned about the green house gas releases, e.g. during transportation.
Value added products differentiation by the providing information on the production and harvest practices and, also, the overall environmental and social impacts of a given fishery.
Eco-labeling has advantages like using sustainable management practices.
Producers are able to charge higher prices due to the product differentiation.
Transparency established between the fishing industry and the consumer with the information transfer.