Evolució econòmica de les captures del sector pesquer a Catalunya: Comparativa 2022-2023 (ICATMAR, 24-02)

Abstract

Professional fishing in Catalonia has traditionally been a major economic activity, but analysis show a decreasing trend in catches and revenues over the last decade. During this period, landings at the fishing markets reached a maximum value of 37 044 tons (t) in 2006, while a minimum of 16 157 t was registered in 2023. Revenues also decreased from their maximum value of 130 million € (M€) in 2007 to a minimum of 86.18 M€ in 2023, despite a rebound in 2021 and 2022, when revenues reached to 91.05 M€ and 94.39 M€ respectively. The average value of landings in € per kilo has been increasing since 2002, from a minimum value of 3.42 €/kg in 2002 to a maximum of 5.33 €/kg in 2023. Regarding the Catalan fishing fleet, it decreased from 1 087 fishing vessels in 2002 to 535 in 2023. During 2023, the Catalan fishing fleet catches and revenues decreased by 20.38% and 7.18% respectively, compared to the previous year, while the average landings in € per kilo increased by 16.38% (0.75 €/kg). Meanwhile, freshwater fishing and shellfishing on foot landed 288.58 t and generated revenues of 2.01 M€, 1.55% and 0.33% more than in 2021 respectively. Over 98% of these 2023 landings and revenues correspond to the Catalan marine fishing fleet, while the remaining 2% correspond to freshwater fishing and shellfishing on foot. In Catalonia, there are 6 management plans designed and implemented by co-management committees. In 2023, 33% of the commercial fishing fleet and 64% of the small-scale fishing fleet have been managed by these management plans. The analysis of the indicators of the main fishing sectors of the Catalan fishing fleet in 2023 shows that small scale fishing is the activity with the greatest fishing fleet, followed by bottom trawling. Purse seine produces the greatest volume of landings, while bottom trawling produces the greatest revenues, due to the high price of some of the target species on this sector (i.e. blue and red shrimp and Norway lobster). The following species have been analyzed in depth: hake (Merluccius merluccius), red mullet (Mullus spp.), European sardine (Sardina pilchardus), anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), Mediterranean sand eels (Gymnammodites cicerelus and G. semisquamatus), blue and red shrimp (Aristeus antennatus), Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), deep-water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris), spottail mantis shrimp (Squilla mantis), caramote prawn (Penaeus kerathurus), blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), horned octopus (Eledone cirrhosa), common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis). In 2023, European sardine and anchovy represented the two main landings by weight, with 2 265.19 t i 4 063.83 t respectively, while the rest of the species amounted less than 750 t each. However, blue and red shrimp produced the highest total revenue (15.40 M€), followed by anchovy and European sardine (9.01 M€ and 5.15 M€, respectively), hake (4.87 M€), red mullet (4.11 M€) and deep-water rose shrimp (4.10 M€). The rest of species generated revenues under 4 M€ each. Finally, blue and red shrimp had the highest average price (42.35 €/kg), followed by Norway lobster (27.38 €/kg), caramote prawn (21.52 €/kg) and sand eels (20.64 €/kg), while the other species average prices had values below 11 €/kg. The species with the lowest average price is anchovy (2.22 €/kg). Landings and revenues were analyzed for each of the 20 fishing markets of Catalonia. During 2023, landings decreased in 14 fishing markets and revenues decreased in 13 of them, compared to 2022. The most substantial declines in landings were observed in Port de la Selva (58.51%) and Barcelona (51.77%), while the sharpest decreases in revenues were observed in Port de la Selva (71.08%), Barcelona (24.71%) and Cambrils (24.53%). La Ràpita was the fishing market with the highest landings and revenues in 2023, with 2 167.79 t landed and 12 290 k€. The fishing sector that produced the highest revenues in most fishing markets was bottom trawling, with the exception of L’Escala and Sant Feliu de Guíxols, where purse seine was the main activity by revenue, and the smaller landing ports of L’Estartit, Badalona, Torredembarra, l’Ampolla and Deltebre, which had small scale fishing as the main revenue activity. Finally, an appendix is presented with an analysis of the effects of the measures derived from the Multiannual Plan (MAP), implemented by the EU, on the management of demersal species populations. It includes an analysis of the effects of the MAP on a global scale in Catalonia, in the bottom trawl fishery, by fishing markets, by fishermen’s guilds and by species