Societal expectations and economic valuation of ceo-centric management for sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems

Abstract

Socio-economic preferences have received insufficient consideration in regulation and in the management of European fisheries. This project aims to address the knowledge gap by undertaking a series of representative surveys with embedded experiments (n>1500) in the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Malta, home to individuals with access to the Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The surveys seek to gain an understanding of the perceptions, preferences, and expectations of the public for current and ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) in Europe and specifically to model the determinants of fish consumption, the willingness to pay for labelled fish, the willingness to support fisheries regulation and the impact of marine ecosystems on citizen wellbeing more broadly. While the results highlight the heterogeneity in different contexts and by different socio-economic groups, they do indicate strong support for fisheries regulation, a positive willingness-to-pay for fish carrying attributes linked to ecosystems based fisheries management, a propensity to cooperate with voluntary organisations through financial donation, and a willingness to report illegal or dangerous activities on the coast. The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 101000302) funded this research.