9 Discussion

These profit profiles are intended to support the management of commercial fisheries in the Northeast U.S. The results presented have a number of different applications, including:

1. Allow end-users to gain a better understanding of cost distributions by fishing fleet. In economic analyses to support fisheries management, operating profit/net revenue is most often calculated. Across FMPs, operating costs account for varying levels of total costs.
2. Allow end-users to gain a better understanding of how gross revenues translate to profit by fishing fleet.
3. Support research into the viability of fishing operations

It is important to note that the Commercial Fishing Business Cost Survey is conducted every few years. For some vessels, 2022 may have been an unusually profitable year, either through increased revenues, decreased costs, or a combination. In contrast, other vessels likely expressed a less profitable year than normal in 2022. The more years of data that are available, the better we can understand the economic performance of fishing fleets. Additional years of data will be added to this site in the future, including from the most recent years of cost survey implementation prior to 2022 (2011, 2012 and 2015). Data collected in future surveys will also feed into the profit calculations presented on this site.