10 Summmary

The Northeast U.S. is home to several economically important commercial fisheries, representing a variety of gear types. Vessels on this site are grouped by fishery and gear-type based on their highest source of revenue during calendar year 2022. Only vessels that provided a complete response to the Greater Atlantic Region Commercial Fishing Business Cost Survey for 2022 are included (see Chapter 3.1 for the definition of a complete survey response). All fisheries and gears are represented in Chapters 5-8 as allowed by data confidentiality rules (at least 3 vessels). Below is a brief summary of the results presented in Chapters 5-8. See Chapter 10 for ways in which these results can be used as well as data limitations.

Chapter 5 provides a summary of fleet ex-vessel revenues. These values are queried from the Catch Accounting and Monitoring System (CAMS), a collaborative database developed by the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Mean and median values show substantially higher vessel-level revenues for some gear groups (e.g. scallop dredge, trawl) than others (e.g. gillnet, handgear). Similarly, some fisheries (e.g. scallop, squid, mackerel, and butterfish) show substantially higher mean and median vessel revenues than others (e.g. fluke, black sea bass, and scup, lobster).

Chapter 6 provides a summary of costs, which mainly are derived from the 2022 cost survey. A breakdown of costs into major categories shows important insight into the differences between fisheries and gear groups. For example, crew-intensive fisheries such as groundfish, scallop, and squid, mackerel, and butterfish show 41-47% of total costs being payments to crew and 9-22% being trip expenses. In contrast, lobster shows 26% of total costs as payments to crew 31% of total costs as trip expenses. Important similarities are present as well. For example, overhead costs represent between 6-10% of total costs for nearly all fisheries and gear groups.

Operating profit is presented in Chapter 7. This metric is calculated by taking gross revenues (Chapter 5) and subtracting trip expenses and crew payments (Chapter 6). Operating profit is an important measure of the short-run economic viability of fishing businesses. If vessels can not cover their operating expenses, fishing trips are not profitable and are theoretically better off shutting down to avoid further losses. All gear groups show positive mean and median operating profits which is expected, though a small number of observations are negative. These may be explained by vessels participating in other activities outside of commercial fishing in which costs are incurred but revenue is not generated.

Total profit is presented in Chapter 8. This metric is calculated by taking gross revenues (Chapter 5) and subtracting all costs (Chapter 6). Total profit provides important insight into the overall economic viability of fishing businesses. The results show vessels which generated the majority of revenue from scallop or squid, mackerel, butterfish fisheries during 2022 yielded the highest total profits on a mean or median basis. Several fleets show negative mean or median vessel profits by gear group (gillnet, handgear, longline) and fishery (dogfish, herring, HMS, monkfish, striped bass). Negative profit during 2022 can be driven by a variety of factors, including high costs, low revenue, as well as vessel activity that incurs costs but does not generate revenue (e.g. leisure uses of a commercial fishing vessel). Since we are unable to determine the most significant drivers of negative vessel profits during 2022, assessing the overall viability of fishing businesses from one year of data is challenging. However, these results do provide insight into which fishing fleets show greater/lesser economic viability during 2022.

Finally, profit margins are presented in Chapter 9. Operating profit margins are calculated by taking median operating profit (Chapter 7) and dividing by gross revenues (Chapter 5). Total profit margins are calculated by taking median total profit (Chapter 8) and dividing by gross revenues (Chapter 5). Operating profit margins by gear range from 25-46% and by fishery generally ranged between 20-50%. Total profit margins show the highest grossing fisheries (scallop and squid, mackerel, butterfish) also have the highest margins. Most other fisheries show margins slightly positive or slightly negative.