The study presented in this paper is part of the European Project "Benthis". It is aimed to analyze costs and benefits of the substitution of otter boards built with traditional technology with innovative and more sustainable ones in bottom trawl fishery, in the Central Mediterranean Adriatic Sea (Italy). The bottom trawling fishing is highly impacting for the environment and high energy intensive, with important fuel costs for the sector. The growing public awareness on those two topics leads to the development of various experimental technologies which can bring both low environmental impacts and fuel efficient fishing activities: in the case here are analyzed, innovative otter boards. Their performances can be further improved matching them to wireless acoustic technologies for bottom trawling gears monitoring. The purpose of the research was to assess whether innovative otter boards, which are able to permit a reduction of the impact on marine ecosystem, would also result economically sustainable for fishermen, in order to assess the possibility of implementation of such innovations in the fishing industry. The data collected in technical tests carried out on a vessel have been re-elaborated in a statistical survey in order to obtain suitable information for the cost-effectiveness assessment of the innovative gear implementation. The methodology used for this study is based on the construction of a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) often used to evaluate various options for investment in the fishery sector. It has been estimated the net present value (NPV) of the hypothetic investment of the tested gears in a private investor view. The CBA has been used to assess whether the change in technology with the implementation of an innovative otter boards could be a feasible and profitable investment. It has been considered the substitution of the old technology with the new one, and all its related costs and benefits, in terms of actual cash flows generated in a time period of 10 years. The results of the CBA indicate that, standing at the data of the testing period with the hypothesis of no other factors occurred in the reduction of fuel purchasing per day at sea, the innovative otter boards are cost effective for the vessel studied. The benefits in swapping the technology are enough to exceed the cost of the investment operations. Based on the estimation of this study the whole cost in swapping the technology would be returned with a pay back after 100 days at seas, so already during the first year of the new technology implementation. Notwithstanding the good results of tests and CBA, these new efficient technologies need to overcome "human behavior barriers" to be implemented massively in the sector. Difficulties in implementing technological improvements in the fishing sector could be related to some barriers; i.e. absence of information on technology themselves, such as lacks in gear performance results, fuel savings and environmental benefits, but also to a low capacity of management these new technology. The present study intend to gather new information useful to overcome these kind of barriers.
New green technologies in fishery, a cost benefits analysis
Andrea Pronti;Monica Cariola;Elena Pagliarino
2020
Abstract
The study presented in this paper is part of the European Project "Benthis". It is aimed to analyze costs and benefits of the substitution of otter boards built with traditional technology with innovative and more sustainable ones in bottom trawl fishery, in the Central Mediterranean Adriatic Sea (Italy). The bottom trawling fishing is highly impacting for the environment and high energy intensive, with important fuel costs for the sector. The growing public awareness on those two topics leads to the development of various experimental technologies which can bring both low environmental impacts and fuel efficient fishing activities: in the case here are analyzed, innovative otter boards. Their performances can be further improved matching them to wireless acoustic technologies for bottom trawling gears monitoring. The purpose of the research was to assess whether innovative otter boards, which are able to permit a reduction of the impact on marine ecosystem, would also result economically sustainable for fishermen, in order to assess the possibility of implementation of such innovations in the fishing industry. The data collected in technical tests carried out on a vessel have been re-elaborated in a statistical survey in order to obtain suitable information for the cost-effectiveness assessment of the innovative gear implementation. The methodology used for this study is based on the construction of a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) often used to evaluate various options for investment in the fishery sector. It has been estimated the net present value (NPV) of the hypothetic investment of the tested gears in a private investor view. The CBA has been used to assess whether the change in technology with the implementation of an innovative otter boards could be a feasible and profitable investment. It has been considered the substitution of the old technology with the new one, and all its related costs and benefits, in terms of actual cash flows generated in a time period of 10 years. The results of the CBA indicate that, standing at the data of the testing period with the hypothesis of no other factors occurred in the reduction of fuel purchasing per day at sea, the innovative otter boards are cost effective for the vessel studied. The benefits in swapping the technology are enough to exceed the cost of the investment operations. Based on the estimation of this study the whole cost in swapping the technology would be returned with a pay back after 100 days at seas, so already during the first year of the new technology implementation. Notwithstanding the good results of tests and CBA, these new efficient technologies need to overcome "human behavior barriers" to be implemented massively in the sector. Difficulties in implementing technological improvements in the fishing sector could be related to some barriers; i.e. absence of information on technology themselves, such as lacks in gear performance results, fuel savings and environmental benefits, but also to a low capacity of management these new technology. The present study intend to gather new information useful to overcome these kind of barriers.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
