ABARES report South-East trawler profitability up
Latest financial and economic survey results from operators in the Commonwealth Trawl Sector (South East Trawl) shows that the profitability of vessels operating in the fishery improved in 2014-15.
Generating a gross value of fishery production of almost $43 million in 2015-16, the South East Trawl is the major supplier of locally caught finfish to Melbourne and Sydney fish markets.
The survey undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial year show that profit at full equity (a profit indicator that assumes all assets are fully owned by operators) increased for the average boat in the CTS from $131,000 in 2013–14 to nearly $154,000 in 2014–15. The improvement was primarily due to lower average costs on items like fuel.
The rise in average vessel performance is also reflected in an improvement in net economic returns (NERs) from the fishery in 2014-15. ‘NER’ measures how well the fishery has performed as a whole and accounts for all revenue and costs of the fishery including all management costs, owner labour (even where there is no cash transaction) and capital employed in the fishery. ABARES estimates that net economic returns continued to improve for the fishery in 2015-16 and 2016-17 reaching $4.2 million by 2016-17. Three years of consecutive growth in returns is great news for trawl operators, particularly as it comes following a three year period of decline.
ABARES is currently undertaking the next survey of Commonwealth Trawl Operators of the fishery covering the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.
The latest survey results can be found at:
