Valuing the socio-cultural and economic contributions of small-scale fisheries to coastal communities

In the EU, more than 80% of the fishing fleet is composed of small vessels less than 12 m of length. These vessels belong to the so called Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) sector that provides around 100,000 direct jobs for fishers and a similar number of indirect jobs for women. Besides providing employment, small-scale fishers in the EU land annually around 2 million tons of high quality marine food valued in ca. EUR 2,6 billion. Despite these figures, the national economic contribution of SSF in terms of shares to country’s GDP, is generally low in comparison with large scale commercial fisheries. This low input to national economies usually masks the genuine societal contribution of SSF, which lies at the interface between socio-cultural and economic benefits to rural coastal communities. This project aims to identified and valuate these socio-cultural and economic contributions of SSF to rural communities in the Galician coast of Spain. Without these information, the scientific evidence for an ecosystem-based fisheries management that integrates ecological, social and economic objectives is deficient, and decisions for fisheries policies based on this incomplete knowledge risk producing adverse impacts to society. Applying an inter and trans-disciplinary methodology involving scholars from social and economic sciences and the actively participation of stakeholders, the objectives of this research are a) to identify the socio-cultural and economic contribution of Galician small-scale fisheries (including contribution of women) to coastal communities using a wellbeing and an economic approach, b) to estimate the value of the socio-cultural and economic contributions of SSF using economic valuation tools, c) to co-develop indicators that encompass socio-cultural and economic data for monitoring and evaluating impacts regarding quota allocation of marine rersouces to the SSF's fleet, and d) to communicate the contributions that flow from SSF inside and outside academia.