The market and shadow value of informal fish catch: a framework and application to Panama

Abstract

Fisheries catches are known to be widely underreported, and much of their value flows in informal markets. Goods and services that are not directly sold in a market also have a corresponding economic value, here termed ‘shadow value’, which can apply to discarded fish—or those that are consumed but not sold (e.g., subsistence catches). Here, we estimate the monetary value of fisheries catches in Panama that are landed but not reported, or that are discarded at sea; this includes catches from artisanal and industrial fleets, as well as recreational and subsistence fisheries. Based on available data, we estimate that the market and shadow value of unreported catches in Panama in 2010 was around US$92 million, equal to approximately 43% of the total reported landed value. In the case of discarded fish, the shadow value represents the potential but entirely unrealized economic benefit of landing such fish; in the case of unreported landings, unreported market value represents only the first link in the potentially sophisticated informal seafood economy. One must be careful in considering these results for policy. It is possible that, rather than seeking to capture these ‘lost’ benefits, fish that are discarded or unreported should not have been caught at all, for example, if they are juveniles or of threatened species; conversely, unreported subsistence catches are crucial for food security throughout the world. These results help contextualize the scale of unreported fisheries in economic terms, and can inform subsequent policies and strategies to ensure social, ecological, and economic sustainability.

Valuing invisible catches: Estimating the global contribution by women to small-scale marine capture fisheries production

“…The economic value associated with catches taken by women was calculated using female participation rates for small-scale fishing activities and the landed value of small-scale fisheries catches, averaged over a ten-year period, 2005-2014 (S3 Fig) . The landed values were derived from Sea Around Us catch data [33] and country specific ex-vessel price data from the Fisheries Economics Research Unit [61][62][63]. We calculated the total revenue (i.e., landed value) of the catch taken by women with subsistence and artisanal catches treated in the same way, assuming that the value of these is similar [62,64]. Given that women often target invertebrates, which can have much higher ex-vessel prices than fish targeted by men, this may underestimate the value of catches by women.…”

Sustainable fisheries are essential but not enough to ensure well‐being for the world’s fishers

“…A current challenge to improved development planning is the lack of reliable and standardized information on fishing profits and their distribution (Béné et al, 2007; Teh et al, 2020), which should be prioritized in global initiatives, such as the nascent UN Decade of Ocean Science that has focused on important but insufficient ecological and social data collection (Singh et al, 2021; Teh et al, 2020). In the case of income analyses, this should include, for example, quantitative information on the contributions of women in fish processing and sales—and of alternative seasonal employment—to household incomes, and wider estimations of the shadow economic values of take‐home catch that can be essential for household diets, public health, and local economies in fishing communities essential for household diets, public health, and local economies in fishing communities (Cisneros‐Montemayor et al, 2018; Harper et al, 2020; Tacon & Metian, 2018; Teh et al, 2020). Furthermore, almost all relatively wealthy countries (and some developing ones) have a range of public services—such as health care, continuing education, employment insurance and access to loans—available to their populations, including fishers, and considering only income does not capture these benefits relative to fishers in other regions.…”

Small-scale shrimp fisheries bycatch: A multi-criteria approach for data-scarse situations

“…Bycatch has value as barter for services related to the fishery and for consumption when taken home for family consumption and donated at the harbor or in the fisher's neighborhood. The likely significant shadow subsistence value [57] and the use of fish as currency [58], add an economic livelihood component to the complex decision regarding bycatch. Economic factors are of importance in determining BPUE variability and could determine the profit to be obtained from fishing activities, and drive the compliance behavior of fishers [59].…”