The fishery processing industries are involved in a wide range of activities covering all aspects of business: input purchases, loan applications, salaries, development plans and profitability. This applies to all fishing activities: catches, processing and marketing. Likewise, as in any industry, artisanal or industrial fisheries have their own characteristics which must be identified in order to better understand the fishing industry as a whole.
An economic project has several objectives. In principle, the objectives can be distinguished between those which must be achieved to ensure the sustainability and autonomy of the project, and those which are important, but not decisive vis-à-vis the former.
An essential objective, from an economic point of view, is to be economically autonomous, that is to say to ensure a financial return on the investments with a profit margin within a reasonable time. The achievement of this objective is a necessary condition otherwise the project will not be viable and will fail when the initial capital is exhausted, or when the financial aid ends. Most of the manual is devoted to the analysis of this objective. However, the fact that, in the case of fish processing industries, other conditions are also necessary to ensure this autonomy and sustainability, is also taken into account.
The most obvious is the need for rational management of fisheries and natural resources. The relationships between the general economy of a fishery and the management of the resource on which it depends are discussed in section 5.5. Fishery products intended for human consumption, the final objective of the fishing industry, must also be healthy and of a level of quality that meets consumer demand and the regulations in force. This is also a necessary condition which intervenes in the economic functioning of the company; this point is dealt with in chapter 8.
The economic validity of a project and its smooth running are necessary but not sufficient conditions for investing ( sine qua non ) . In this context, economic engineering applied to fish processing industries constitutes an appropriate tool to help the management and sustainability of the sector, especially in developing countries.
All the world's fisheries have one common characteristic, namely the coexistence of industrial and artisanal activities. The developing countries, for which this manual is particularly intended, have both types of activities, with combinations and relative importance which must be studied on a case-by-case basis, and in some countries, or even region by region.
From general historical considerations (for example, in Europe), the evolution of the development of fisheries goes from a subsistence activity to an artisanal stage, then a stage of small enterprises and finally to semi-industrial and industrial stages. This development generally involves outward investment and / or reinvestment and redistribution of employment (for example, in the development of industrial fishing in Uruguay during the 1970s).
Development also involves avoiding obsolescence and keeping abreast of new technologies, market requirements, etc. A characteristic of the dynamics of sustainable development is the need for an endless chain of technical and economic decisions. Whether in developed or developing countries, there are static fisheries (eg "tonnara" in Italy), unchanged and stable for centuries. The implications of these situations are not discussed here as many other factors (eg culture, politics, employment, tourism) may come into play.
While industrial fishing activities can be characterized taking into account the technologies used and investments, there is no universally accepted definition for small-scale fishing activities. Fishing activities are classified into different groups: artisanal and industrial, or commercial; on a small or large scale; depending on the range of fishing vessels (coastal or offshore); or depending on the type of nets used (Thailand), the size of the vessels (Indonesia, Philippines) or the distance from the coast (Hong Kong) or a combination of the three (Malaysia). What one country sees as large-scale is often viewed as small-scale in another country.
This manual does not make a particular study and comparison of small and large-scale fisheries, but tries to present a synthesis of the current situation.
A comprehensive analysis is made on the most important factors in fishery production, in processing industries and in the design of operations and associated manufacturing processes, with particular emphasis on economics. Investments in capital goods, production costs and their profitability are considered quantitatively and qualitatively. A brief microeconomic analysis of the production is also carried out. This analysis, which enables the production of fishery products with maximum efficiency, can be applied to single production lines, factories or an entire national sector.
Consumers of seafood are changing attitudes in both developed and developing countries. This has many consequences for the fish processing industries, in particular the need to be competitive in markets that are increasingly demanding in terms of quality, without major changes in relative prices. An in-depth study of the costs of safety and quality as well as their monitoring are therefore necessary, in ways that a simple accounting approach cannot provide. This type of study and monitoring involves a close connection between technology and economics. The goal is to obtain products of greater safety and of better quality at lower prices through changes in the manufacturing processes.
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