IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i5p2719-d509557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Impact of Eliminating the Fuel Tax Exemption in the EU Fishing Fleet

Author

Listed:
  • Natacha Carvalho

    (Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 21027 Ispra, Italy)

  • Jordi Guillen

    (Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 21027 Ispra, Italy)

Abstract

The EU-27 fishing fleet consumed 2.02 billion liters of fuel to catch 4.48 million tons of fish, valued at €6.7 billion in 2018. The profitability of the EU fishing fleet shows an increasing trend, partly due to the improvements in the energy efficiency and recovery of fish stocks in the North-east Atlantic. Fuel is one of the main expenses fishing fleets have, and therefore, their economic performance remains highly dependent on the fuel price, even if they benefit from a fuel tax exemption. The adoption of the European Green Deal, the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiation to prohibit harmful fisheries subsidies, and general public opinion are putting pressure to eliminate this tax exemption. This analysis investigates the impacts of the potential elimination of the fuel tax exemption across the different EU fishing fleets and it is discussed to what extent the small-scale, large-scale and distant-water fleets could be affected. This analysis is useful to inform policy-makers and stakeholders on the consequences of the potential elimination of the fuel tax exemption, as well as to discuss potential measures to mitigate the socioeconomic impacts arising from this eventual change in the current regulatory framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Natacha Carvalho & Jordi Guillen, 2021. "Economic Impact of Eliminating the Fuel Tax Exemption in the EU Fishing Fleet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2719-:d:509557
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2719/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2719/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank & Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009. "The Sunken Billions : The Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2596, December.
    2. Roger Martini, 2012. "Fuel Tax Concessions in the Fisheries Sector," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 56, OECD Publishing.
    3. Cheilari, Anna & Guillen, Jordi & Damalas, Dimitrios & Barbas, Thomas, 2013. "Effects of the fuel price crisis on the energy efficiency and the economic performance of the European Union fishing fleets," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 18-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ziegler, Friederike & Hornborg, Sara, 2014. "Stock size matters more than vessel size: The fuel efficiency of Swedish demersal trawl fisheries 2002–2010," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 72-81.
    2. Nils-Arne Ekerhovd & Daniel V. Gordon, 2020. "Profitability, Capacity and Productivity Trends in an Evolving Rights Based Fishery: The Norwegian Purse Seine Fishery," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 77(3), pages 565-591, November.
    3. Staffan Waldo & Anton Paulrud, 2017. "Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Fisheries: The Case of Multiple Regulatory Instruments in Sweden," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(2), pages 275-295, October.
    4. Jordi Guillen & Natacha Carvalho & Griffin Carpenter & Antonio Borriello & Angel Calvo Santos, 2023. "Economic Impact of High Fuel Prices on the EU Fishing Fleet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-10, September.
    5. Laura Recuero Virto, 2017. "A preliminary assessment of indicators for SDG 14 on " Oceans "," Post-Print hal-01639008, HAL.
    6. Sowman, Merle & Sunde, Jackie & Raemaekers, Serge & Schultz, Oliver, 2014. "Fishing for equality: Policy for poverty alleviation for South Africa's small-scale fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 31-42.
    7. Violaine Tarizzo & Eric Tromeur & Olivier Thébaud & Richard Little & Sarah Jennings & Luc Doyen, 2018. "Risk averse policies foster bio-economic sustainability in mixed fisheries," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2018-07, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    8. Dana Miller & Stefano Mariani, 2013. "Irish fish, Irish people: roles and responsibilities for an emptying ocean," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 529-546, April.
    9. Guangliang Li & Chunlan Tan & Weikun Zhang & Wolin Zheng & Yong Liu, 2023. "Carbon Emission Efficiency, Technological Progress, and Fishery Scale Expansion: Evidence from Marine Fishery in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-20, April.
    10. Hoekman, Bernard & Martin, Will & Mattoo, Aaditya, 2010. "Conclude Doha: it matters!," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 505-530, July.
    11. World Bank, 2015. "Economic, Environmental, and Social Evaluation of Africa's Small-Scale Fisheries," World Bank Publications - Reports 21906, The World Bank Group.
    12. Cooper, Rachel & Jarre, Astrid, 2017. "An Agent-based Model of the South African Offshore Hake Trawl Industry: Part II Drivers and Trade-offs in Profit and Risk," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 257-267.
    13. Tromeur, Eric & Doyen, Luc & Tarizzo, Violaine & Little, L. Richard & Jennings, Sarah & Thébaud, Olivier, 2021. "Risk averse policies foster bio-economic sustainability in mixed fisheries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    14. Hans Frost & Peder Andersen & Ayoe Hoff, 2013. "Management of Complex Fisheries: Lessons Learned from a Simulation Model," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 61(2), pages 283-307, June.
    15. U. Sumaila & Ragnar Arnason & Glenn-Marie Lange, 2010. "Toward a global fisheries economics: an introduction to the special issue," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 179-182, October.
    16. Margrethe Aanesen & Claire W. Armstrong, 2016. "The Political Game of European Fisheries Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(4), pages 745-763, April.
    17. Basak Bayramoglu & Brian Copeland & Jean-François Jacques, 2018. "Trade and fisheries subsidies [Le commerce international et les subventions à la pêche]," Post-Print hal-02624649, HAL.
    18. World Bank, 2017. "The Sunken Billions Revisited," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24056, December.
    19. Moses Majid Limuwa & Wales Singini & Trond Storebakken, 2018. "Is Fish Farming an Illusion for Lake Malawi Riparian Communities under Environmental Changes?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, May.
    20. Gordon Munro & U. Sumaila, 2015. "On the Contributions of Colin Clark to Fisheries Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 61(1), pages 1-17, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2719-:d:509557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.