ECOST - Overview

The main aim of the ECOST project is to develop a new approach to assess the societal cost of fishing activities and fishing policies. By societal cost we mean all costs linked to fishing activities: these may be ecological (alteration of the capacity of a system), economic (all costs linked to production, management, subsidies and external factors), social (linked to choices made in public policy, food security and safety, provision for national or international markets, the eradication of poverty and to development models (small scale fishing versus industrial fishing).

The project has to be seen from the wider perspective of equipping public decision-makers and society with the appropriate tools and methods needed to take into account, not only immediate economic and social profits, but also the costs engendered by fishing activities which relate as much to ecosystems as to societies.

Work is spread over three continents (three countries for each continent) that are characterised respectively by ecosystems of coastal upwelling (West Africa), delta (Southeast Asia) and coral reef (Caribbean). Within each region/ecosystem (eco-region) several fisheries have been selected as representative of global fishing activities. Furthermore, a marine protected area will be chosen in order to carry out comparative analysis within the said eco-region, and to serve as a reference point. There is a triple advantage to such a choice: firstly, it will facilitate the comparison of the different ecosystems; secondly, it will facilitate the comparison of fishing methods and management (public policy); and thirdly, it will facilitate the comparison of societies based on the choices they have made and their concerns regarding various marine resources. The main body of work will therefore focus on the development of a model that addresses the societal cost of fishing activities, which can reflect the reality of such varied and contrasting coastal regions as perceived via their ecosystems and societies.

At the heart of the project will be the triple theme of «marine environment - fishing activities - civil society» thus bringing together the life sciences and the social sciences. The multi-disciplinary nature of the project is centred on the concept of consilience in order to gain a better understanding of situations that require the diverse expertise.

Project information update

Full project description

Project Presentation in 11 languages

Brochures presenting main events of the project are published all along the project. They are available in the 11 languages of the project.
The first one bellow gives an overview of the project:
English Danish Vietnamese French Chinese Italiano Espangol Thai Wolof Portuguese Dutch

The second brochure will present the work of ECOST on Marine protected areas in Africa, Caribbean and Asia (issued in Sept. 2009).

The third brochure will present policy issues and main management/policy options and recommendations (issued in Dec. 2009).

Please note that 1-the present page is updated on a continuous basis ; 2-some of the content in the sections below is restricted to partners in the project. You need to login to have access to these sections 3-the Ecost logo doesn’t appear correctly in word file without the font Lithographlight installed on your computer (please download this file (lithographlight.ttf) to C:\WINDOWS\Fonts)

Institutes and people

Institutes

Coordinator

University of Portsmouth, Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources(UOP), UK

Partners

Associate partners

People

Project documentation, administration and management

Documentation

Technical annex (Updated November 2006)
revised version of the TA (March 2009) with the extension elements
Consortium agreement (coming shortly)

Management

Project meetings and workshops

Regular meetings

International and disciplinary workshops

Regional workshops

National workshops and meetings

Case studies

Work Packages

Deliverables and outputs of the project

All publications made under the ecost project must have the following mention: This paper has been carried out with financial support from the Commission of the European Communities, specific RTD programme “International Research in Co- operation” (INCO-DEV), “Ecosystems, Societies, Consilience, Precautionary principle: development of an assessment method of the societal cost for best fishing practices and efficient public policies” (ECOST). It does not necessarily reflect its views and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area