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Why are Prices in Wild Catch and Aquaculture Industries so Different?

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Abstract

Through a comparative analysis of prices in capture fisheries and aquaculture sectors, the objectives of this paper are a) to investigate three the trends in prices of forage catches to feed the aquaculture species, b) to analyze the amount of fish species need to feed aquaculture species in order to assess the level of efficiency in resource use, and c) to examine the degree of economic concentration either in wild-catch industry and aquaculture sectors. The results show that prices of cultivated species are higher than prices of the same species when harvested from the sea. We explain this fact by the interplay of three forces. First, the amount of wild fish to feed aquaculture species continues to improve over time. Second, the pressure of fishing activities has not been reduced since catches of most forage fishes are declining, which induce higher prices of capture species that feed aquaculture production. Third, the level of seafood market concentration is significantly higher in aquaculture than in wild catches, which generates higher prices in aquaculture.

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Notes

  1. Two products are said to be substitutes if an increase (decrease) in the price of one leads to an increase (decrease) in the quantity consumed of the other.

  2. See http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/software/fishstatj/en.

  3. See http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/global-aquaculture-production/en.

  4. See http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/global-commodities-production/en.

  5. The FCR is defined as the coefficient between capture from fisheries to feed aquaculture species. It particularly measures how many kilograms of wild fish does it take to produce 1 kg of farmed fish.

  6. The major advantage of the Herfindahl index over the concentration rate is that the former, but not the latter, gives more weight to larger firms.

  7. See http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/guidelines/hmg-2010.html.

  8. Recall that the FCR refers how much of fish harvested from wild fisheries it takes to produce 1 kg of farmed fish (see Footnote 5).

  9. To take an example, the growth of the monthly average price of the main small pelagic species (Globefish 2011a, b, 2013a, b) was as follows: (a) world imports of canned sardines: US$ 0.43 per kg in 1999 to US$ 0.86 per kg in 2009, (b) world imports of fresh and frozen herring: US$ 0.48 per kg in 1999 to US$ 0.76 per kg in 2009, (c) whole herring prices (in Norway, origin Norway): US$ 0.40 per kg in 1999 to US$ 1.35 in 2009, (d) world imports of fresh and frozen mackerel: US$ 0.66 per kg in 1999 to US$ 1.04 in 2009, (e) fresh herring (Sardinella eba): US$ 0.77 per kg in mid 2005 to US$ 1.77 per kg in mid 2011, (f) fresh horse mackerel: US$ 0.42 per kg in 1999 to US$ 1.17 per kg in 2009, (g) canned sardines in oil skinless/boneless: US$ 40 per kg in 1999 to US$ 52 per tonne in 2013.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Bo Söderström (Editor-in-Chief of AMBIO) for his generous and helpful comments and suggestions that greatly improved this paper. They also thank Helga Josupeit (FAO) for providing valuable data and information, as well as participants in the Subregional Workshop for South America on Valuation and Incentive Measures (Santiago de Chile, May 14–17th 2012) organized by the UNEP Program and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for insightful discussions and suggestions. SV was funded by Campus do Mar-International Campus of Excellence and the Norwegian Research Council. SRR is grateful to the financial support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

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  1. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Santiago de Compostela, Av. Burgo Nacións s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain

    Sebastián Villasante, David Rodríguez-González, Manel Antelo, Susana Rivero-Rodríguez & Joseba Lebrancón-Nieto

  2. Campus do Mar, International Campus of Excellence, Vigo, Spain

    Sebastián Villasante

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  1. Sebastián Villasante
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Correspondence to Sebastián Villasante.

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Villasante, S., Rodríguez-González, D., Antelo, M. et al. Why are Prices in Wild Catch and Aquaculture Industries so Different?. AMBIO 42, 937–950 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0449-8

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