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EastMed Technical Documents - No 19 Socio-Economic Analysis of Egyptian Fisheries: Options for Improvement

Year of publication 2014

Pages 127 p.

Author Dario Pinello;Dimech, Mark;El Haweet, Alaa ;Salah, Atif

Product type Project

Series title EastMed Technical Documents (FAO)

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This study was implemented after the EastMed 2nd co-ordination meeting on the 5-6th April, Antalya, Turkey (EastMed 2012), where the participants agreed to have a preliminary assessment of the socio-economic situation of the Egyptian fisheries sector. In order to undertake such an assessment several information was gathered, from literature, from several fishers and other stakeholders, and a sampling survey in order to investigate the main socio-economic characteristics of the motorized fishing vessels by type of fishery. In general the study found that the value of capture fisheries produced by the motorized fleet in the Mediterranean was $182 million generating a net profit of $42.5 million. The ex-vessels prices ranged between $2.4/Kg and $4.3/Kg, and the first sale of seafood products occurred mostly through the auction markets (56%) and through the wholesalers (40%). The revenue of the fleet provided an annual salary of about $2,662 per fisher to about 22,173 fishers, which is muc h higher than the official minimum wage of the country ($1,416). This relatively higher salary comes from the fact that the industry is heavily subsidized by the very low cost of fuel. The main problem in Egyptian motorized fisheries seems to be the overcapacity of the trawl fleet, which has led to an overexploitation of resources. The overcapacity of trawlers is most likely driven by the highly subsidised fuel, which led to substantial profits, but however making the sector extremely vulnerable to any minimum change in the subsides and/or average price of fuel. The employment and salaries are the factors with a higher risk. Management measures should be taken to reduce the capacity of the trawl fleet such as improved enforcement on the use of trawl gears and a diversification of the fleet into other fishing activities such as vessels using passive gears. However such management measures should be developed within the context and methodology of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) , in which together with the various stakeholders management plans could be drawn up.

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    EastMed Technical Documents - No 19 Socio-economic analysis of egyptian fisheries
    options for improvement
    2014
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    EastMed Project Technical Document No 16: Socio-economic analysis of the Lebanese fishing fleet 2013
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    This study was implemented after the EastMed 2nd co-ordination meeting on the 5-6th April, Antalya, Turkey (EastMed 2012), where the participants agreed to have a preliminary assessment of the economic situation of the Lebanese fisheries sector. In order to undertake such an assessment an economic survey based on direct interviews was conducted from March to May 2012. The study was split up into two phases. In the first phase the information on the technical characteristics of the most recent fl eet was obtained. This was then followed by the second and main phase which included the socioeconomic sample survey and the socio-economic analysis. The licensed fishing fleet of 2011 was stratified according to the GFCM task I fleet segmentation, after which the population of vessels was randomly sampled and direct interviews based on a questionnaire were conducted. The results showed that in general the Lebanese fishing fleet is making a profit of about 24% of the revenue which is comparable to other fleets in the Mediterranean of similar characteristics. It is a family based fishery, where the owners of the vessels, are directly involved in the fishing activity, with the assistance of family members, there is a non aging fishers’ population, and a low level of education. The income per fisher-owner (7,400 USD) and fisher (3,000 USD) is 20% and 70% respectively less than the national GDP per capita, furthermore a fisher earns about 25% less than the minimum wage of the country. In t his respect the fishers in Lebanon are present in both the lower-middle class (fisher-owners) and the lower class (fisher), where the latter are part of the poorest section of society. The auction market is the main channel used to sell the product, however the whole value chain should be studied in more detail. The salaries of the fishers should be increased by increasing the revenue and this can be accomplished either by increasing the prices or the quantity of production. The latter seems to be a more plausible solution and can be achieved by improving the sustainable exploitation of the stocks and exploring the possibility to exploit new fishing grounds such as the deep water grounds (> 200 m) and offshore waters for large pelagic species.
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