Vulnerable marine ecosystems VMEs : socio-economic impact assessment (STECF-24-09)

Commission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4-10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar disciplines. This report gives an overview on the available information on socio-economic impacts of the closures of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME). This includes information from regional studies and ad hoc contracts issued to provide additional data analyses and analyses of displacement effects of fishing effort. The report is also the result of a longer-term process to assess the socio-economic impacts but especially to use existing data and elaborate how far those existing data can be used to assess socio-economic impacts of closures of small areas (VMEs cover only parts of polygons and ICES squares on which level FDI and economic data is collected). The report includes also an overview on the ecosystem services provided by VMEs and discusses briefly available information on monetary valuation of those services. At the end, the way forward is described to improve the possibilities to assess socio-economic impacts of closure