Environmentally extended comparison table of large- versus small- and medium-scale fisheries: the case of the Peruvian anchoveta fleet

Abstract

Literature on small-scale fisheries usually depicts them as preferable over large-scale–industrial fisheries regarding societal benefits (jobs, jobs per investment) and relative fuel efficiency (e.g., Thomson 1980 ). We propose an environmentally extended Thomson table for comparing the Peruvian anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) fleets of purse seiners, backed up by methodological information and augmented with life cycle assessment (LCA)-based environmental performance information, as a more comprehensive device for comparing fleets competing for the same resource pool. Findings from LCA and a previous study on the anchoveta steel fleet together allowed characterizing the whole Peruvian anchoveta fishery. These results, along with socio-economic indicators, are used to build an environmentally extended Thomson table of the fleet’s main segments: the steel industrial, the wooden industrial, and the wooden small- and medium-scale (SMS) fleets. In contrast with the world figure, the Peruvian SMS fleets show a fuel performance nearly two times worse than the industrial fleets, due to economies of scale of the latter (although the small-scale segment itself (<10 m3) performs similarly to the industrial steel fleet). Furthermore, the absolute number of jobs provided by the industrial fisheries is much larger in Peru than those provided by the SMS fisheries. This is due to the relatively larger development of the industrial fishery, but as in previous studies, the SMS fleets generate more employment per tonne landed than the industrial fleet, as well as more food fish and less discards at sea.