Recent Publications
Teh, L. & Sumaila, R. (2011) Contribution of marine fisheries to worldwide employment. Fish and Fisheries. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00450.x
The study, published in the December 2011 issue of Fish and Fisheries, shows there are approximately 260 million marine fisheries jobs worldwide, a figure 1.75 times greater than previous estimates from the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Of those jobs, 50 million are directly related to fishing, including commercial, small-scale or artisanal operations. [...]
Sumaila, U.R., Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M., Dyck, A., Huang, L., Cheung, W., Jacquet, J., Kleisner, K., Lam, V., McCrea-Strub, A., Swartz, W., Watson, R., Zeller, D., and Pauly, D. (2012) Impact of the Deepwater Horizon well blowout on the economics of US Gulf fisheries. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Published on the web 15 February 2012, 10.1139/f2011-171.
Abstract: Marine oil spills usually harm organisms at two interfaces: near the water surface and on shore. However, because of the depth of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon well blowout, deeper parts of the Gulf of Mexico are likely impacted. We estimate the potential negative economic effects of this blowout and oil spill on commercial [...]
Teh, L.C. & Sumaila, U.R. (2011) Contribution of marine fisheries to worldwide employment. Fish and Fisheries. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00450.x
Abstract: Marine fisheries contribute to the global economy, from the catching of fish through to the provision of support services for the fishing industry. General lack of data and uncertainty about the level of employment in marine fisheries can lead to underestimation of fishing effort and hence over-exploited fisheries, or result in inaccurate projections of [...]
Sumaila, U.R., Cheung, W.W.L., Lam, V.W.Y., Pauly, D. and Herrick, S. (2011). Climate change impacts on the biophysics and economics of world fisheries. Nature Climate Change 1(8): 449-456.
Abstract: Global marine fisheries are underperforming economically because of overfishing, pollution and habitat degradation. Added to these threats is the looming challenge of climate change. Observations, experiments and simulation models show that climate change would result in changes in primary productivity, shifts in distribution and changes in the potential yield of exploited marine species, resulting in [...]
Lam, V.W.Y., Sumaila, U.R., Dyck, A., Pauly, D. and Watson, R. (2011). Construction and first applications of a global cost of fishing database. ICES Journal of Marine Science 68(9), 1996-2004.
Abstract: The development of a new global database of fishing cost is described, and an overview of fishing cost patterns at national, regional, and global scales is provided. This fishing cost database provides economic information required for assessing the economics of fisheries at various scales. It covers variable and fixed costs of maritime countries, representing similar [...]
Teh, L.S.L., Teh, L.C.L. and Sumaila, U.R. (2011). Quantifying the overlooked socio-economic contribution of small-scale fisheries in Sabah, Malaysia. Fisheries Research 110(3), 450-458.
Abstract: Our study objective is to quantify the present and historical contribution of small-scale fisheries to national economies. We focus on the small-scale fishing sector in Sabah, Malaysia, and use a previously reconstructed time series of Sabah’s small-scale catches as the basis for estimating the economic value of these fisheries. Our findings suggest that since [...]
Liu, Y., Sumaila, U.R., Volpe, J.P. (2011). Potential ecological and economic impacts of sea lice from farmed salmon on wild salmon fisheries. Ecological Economics 70(10), 1745-1755.
Abstract: This paper examines the possible ecological and economic effects of sea lice from salmon farms on wild salmon populations and fisheries. A bioeconomic model is developed incorporating an age-structured population dynamics model of wild pink and chum salmon with mortality caused by farm-derived sea lice. Our model incorporates capture fisheries under two management policy scenarios. [...]
Heymans, JJ., Mackinson, S., Sumaila, U.R., Dyck, A. and Little, A. (2011). The Impact of Subsidies on the Ecological Sustainability and Future Profits from North Sea Fisheries. PLOS ONE 6(5), e20239.
Abstract: Background: This study examines the impact of subsidies on the profitability and ecological stability of the North Sea fisheries over the past 20 years. It shows the negative impact that subsidies can have on both the biomass of important fish species and the possible profit from fisheries. The study includes subsidies in an ecosystem model [...]
McCrea-Strub, A., Zeller, D., Sumaila, U.R., Nelson, J., Balmford, A. and Pauly, D. (2011). Understanding the cost of establishing marine protected areas. Marine Policy 35(1), 1-9.
Abstract: While the recurrent cost of managing marine protected areas (MPAs) has been documented and estimated, there has been virtually no attempt to quantify the cost of establishing MPAs in the first place. This lack of attention is likely the result of the complexity of the process, involving often uncoordinated efforts of a multitude of governmental [...]
Srinivasan, U.T., Cheung, W.W.L., Watson, R. and Sumaila, U.R. (2011). Food security implications of global marine catch losses due to overfishing. Journal of Bioeconomics 12(3), 183-200.
Abstract: Excess fishing capacity and the growth in global demand for fishery products have made overfishing ubiquitous in the world’s oceans. Here we describe the potential catch losses due to unsustainable fishing in all countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and on the high seas over 1950–2004. To do so, we relied upon catch and price statistics [...]
Sumaila, U.R. (2011). “Is the concept of a green economy a useful way of framing policy discussions and policymaking to promote sustainable development?” Natural Resources Forum 35(1), 70-70.
Abstract: In the Viewpoints section, academics, practitioners and experts share their perspectives on policy questions relevant to sustainable development. In this issue, experts address the question: ”Is the concept of a green economy a useful way of framing policy discussions and policymaking to promote sustainable development?”
Osterblom, H. and Sumaila, U.R. (2011). Toothfish crises, actor diversity and the emergence of compliance mechanisms in the Southern Ocean. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions 21(3), 972-982.
Abstract: Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing is a challenging form of non-compliance in many marine ecosystems. IUU fishing has attracted substantial political attention in the Southern Ocean, where a series of crises created windows of opportunity for change. A crises-response framework was used for examining these dynamics between 1995 and 2009. Crises were defined in [...]
