Seal Predation Costs on the Vendace Fishery in the Bothnian Bay : A partial bioeconomic analysis of the economic costs inflicted upon the vendace fishery by seal predation

• Main Author: Lindgren, Simon
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Nationalekonomi 2019
• Subjects: Economics; Nationalekonomi; ringed seal
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-161096

This study examines the costs in terms of lost revenues inflicted upon the vendace fishing industry by increased seal predation in the Bothnian Bay between the years of 2008 and 2017. A partial bioeconomic model is used to estimate the costs of predation, where a constant stock management type is assumed. The results show that the average predation cost is approximately 4500 SEK per ringed seal and 2300 SEK per grey seal. A 10 percent increase in the ringed seal population is estimated to result in 7,1 million SEK in lost revenues on average, which would constitute 15 percent of the total average revenue of the vendace fishing industry. A 10 percent increase in the grey seal population would on average result in 482 thousand SEK in lost revenues. The predation costs are considered to be economically large, but the actual estimates should be taken lightly due to uncertainty in the underlying data.