Multi-fleet comparison of fisheries socioeconomic performance indicators: a case study in Southeastern Brazil

Poster session.A comparative multi-fleet rationale of socioeconomic indicators is described aiming a\ud potential incorporation into fishery management advice at an ecosystem scale. A set of\ud performance indicators, based on a survey of different industrial fishing fleets in São\ud Paulo (SE Brazil) which investigated investment, fixed, effort, labour and sailingrelated\ud costs and profits, allowed for inter-fleet comparison. Costs varied between fleets\ud with fuel being the main cost. In general, indicators of profitability and economic\ud efficiency reveal best economic performance per fishing trip for bottom longliners and\ud both surface and bottom-gillnet fleets mainly due to their relatively low percentage of\ud variable cost. Purse-seiners and shrimp-trawlers, targeting mainly overexploited species,\ud showed the worst performance of both profitability and economic efficiency mainly\ud related to their high variable costs and relatively low catches. However, in terms of jobs\ud generated, purse-seiners had the greatest value and the sea-bob-shrimp fleet showed the\ud lowest crew size per vessel but generated the second highest total number of direct jobs.\ud The inter-fleet cost and socioeconomic performance analyses reveal that additional\ud attention should be given to the poor profitability of fleets, rent drain, fishing impacts,\ud and open-access related issues, while social indicators might be also considered. Results\ud may calibrate predictions related to management trade-offs between ecological,\ud economic, and social benefits in the context of an ecosystem approach to fisheries