Séminaire de recherche AMURE

Évaluation économique des impacts dus au développement de parcs éoliens en pleine mer sur la pêcherie de mactre (Spisula solidissima) du Nord Ouest de l’Atlantique

Par Jennifer Beckensteiner, Post-doc ISBLUE/AMURE

Il s’agira de présenter un article qui sera prochainement soumis afin d’avoir des retours de la communauté

Résumé :

• The Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima) fishery is a major economic driver in communities spanning the U.S. Northeast coast, landing 22 400 tonnes and generating over $30 Million USD (ex-vessel) in annual revenue. The surfclam fishery operates on high volume and low margin, making it highly vulnerable to small shifts in economic efficiency. The fishery is at risk from offshore wind energy development because of the limitations imposed by the vessels (large boats) and gear (hydraulic dredges) that will likely prevent the fishery from accessing wind energy areas. An agent-based modeling framework has been developed to assess the economic impacts of the proposed offshore wind energy development on the surfclam fishery. The model simulates the uniquely consolidated and vertically-integrated surfclam fishery, under a variety of offshore wind energy development and fishery management scenarios by integrating spatial dynamics in surfclam stock biology, fishery captain and fleet behavior, federal management models and decisions, fishery economics, and port structure. Combinations of proposed wind farm array configurations that prevent fishery access or transit within wind energy areas are simulated to estimate effects on fishing costs, revenues from landings at major fishery ports, and stock abundance dynamics. Simulation strategies are informed via detailed interviews and input from advisory teams representing industry, management, and the U.S. federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. This analysis indicates that when Atlantic surfclam vessels are prevented from fishing or transiting through wind lease areas, average trip length increases and the number of trips is reduced. These changes in fishing activity lead to significant reductions in revenues and increases in average production costs. Total fishing costs also decline due to effort reductions, though decreases are proportionately less than reductions in revenues. These combined effects indicate reductions in profitability for the Atlantic surfclam industry are likely to occur in response to development of offshore wind energy in U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.