4 Profit Calculation Methods

4.1 Commercial Revenue

All individuals that were sampled for the 2022 cost survey were owners of federally-permitted commercial fishing vessels active in 2021 or 2022. Federally-permitted vessels are required to sell their catch to federally-licensed seafood dealers and commercial revenue is derived from harvested catch on commercial trips sold to a licensed dealer. All vessels included in the profit snapshots generated commercial fishing revenue >$0 during 2022 from landings occurring in the Northeast region (ME to Cape Hatteras, NC). Of note, the reporting requirements for landings of bluefin tuna differ from other species landed in the Northeast region. Bluefin tuna revenue was queried from the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) data warehouse, while all other species revenue was queried from the Catch Accounting and Management System (CAMS) housed at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) and the NEFSC.

Vessel primary gear is defined according to the largest contributor to total commercial vessel revenue during 2022. Fishing gears, primarily from Vessel Trip Reports (VTRs) were grouped into the same categories as used for the 2022 cost survey sampling frame. For example, bottom trawl and midwater trawl were grouped into a broader trawl category. The resulting primary gear groups are as follows: gillnet, handgear, hydraulic dredge, longline, pot/trap, scallop dredge, seine, trawl, and unknown. Due to low response levels for some primary gear groups, results are unable to be presented.

Vessel primary fishery is also defined as the largest contributor to total commercial vessel revenue during 2022. Species were grouped into Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) as managed by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, as well as American lobster, managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. All other fisheries are grouped into “Other”. Due to low response levels for some primary fisheries, results are unable to be presented.

4.2 For-Hire Revenue

While the 2022 cost survey was sent to vessels engaged in commercial fishing during 2021 or 2022, some of these vessels also were engaged in for-hire fishing. In order to most accurately capture vessel-level profits, it is important to include this additional source of revenue. For-hire revenue is derived from angler/customer payments on recreational trips.

All 2022 party/charter trips, and the number of anglers per trip, were first pulled from logbook data. Average angler charter/guide fees by state were then retrieved from the results of the 2022 National Angler Expenditure Survey administered by NOAA Fisheries. This survey is conducted every 3-5 years to better understand the economic contribution of recreational fishing within each region. The survey collects information on a variety of angler expenditures including bait, ice, lodging, and travel costs. For the purpose of the vessel profit calculation, only the amount paid by the angler for the party/charter ticket is used. State-level averages from the angler expenditure survey were used in light of the variability in fees by state within the Northeast region as well as the high level of response for each state. The average angler fee was multiplied by the number of anglers for each 2022 party/charter trip by state. Finally, the trip-level calculations were summed to an annual vessel-level value.

4.3 Survey Costs

The vast majority of cost information used in the calculation of vessel profits came directly from the 2022 cost survey. Some manipulation of the data was required to make it usable at the vessel/annual level. These data manipulation steps are summarized below.

Operating Costs: Survey respondents were given the option of providing operating costs such as fuel, bait, and ice either at the annual level or as an average by trip. For those respondents who filled in the average cost by trip, the value was multiplied by the number of commercial trips taken during 2022. In general, the number of trips was used directly from the survey (Q2). In cases where this information was not filled in, the number of trips was retrieved from VTRs and/or dealer reports.

Overhead Costs: Survey respondents were given the option of providing these costs either at the vessel level or at the business level. For those respondents who filled in business level costs, the value was divided by the number of vessels owned by the respondent during 2022. The number of vessels owned was taken directly from the survey (Q13).

Quota Leasing Costs: Survey respondents were given the option to provide quota leasing costs either at the vessel-level or across multiple vessels. If this cost was provided across multiple vessels, the value was divided by the specific number of vessels the quota leasing cost was attributed to (Q17).

Other Costs: At the end of the survey, respondents were given the opportunity to list other costs that were not included in the survey. When other costs were listed, they were evaluated on a case-by-case basis (see Werner et al. 2025). Those that could not be allocated to an existing cost category were excluded from the profit calculation.

4.4 Additional Trip Costs

As covered in the previous section, the 2022 cost survey queried a variety of expenses faced by vessel owners. During pre-testing of the survey instrument, fishing industry members generally felt that the survey did a good job of including all significant costs. Furthermore, comments on the survey itself and a lack of other costs filled in by respondents indicated the survey covered significant costs. However there are two costs, crew supplies and fresh water, that are collected by at-sea observers that were not included in the 2022 cost survey.

To capture these costs, data from observer programs was used to calculate average costs per trip by gear. All 2022 trips from observer data tables were pulled, along with the primary gear utilized on each trip. The average crew supply and fresh water trip costs by gear type were calculated and these averages were then merged by gear with all of the trips taken by survey responding vessels during 2022. Finally, trip-level costs were summed to the vessel-level.

4.5 Depreciation

The final cost component included in the profit calculation is vessel depreciation. Ideally, a different depreciation value would be assigned to each physical capital component (e.g. electronics, engine, hull) using the estimated market value and age of each piece of vessel equipment. This method would require additional information beyond that collected in the 2022 cost survey.

Information on the estimated market vessel value, including all equipment and fishing gear, was collected in the 2022 cost survey. However the number of responses to this question were lower than most other survey questions explained in part by the inclusion of a “I Prefer not to Answer” option, which was not included for other survey questions. Given the relative lack of response for vessel market value, an alternate method was used in which shadow values of vessel characteristics- age, gross tonnage, length, and type of construction were estimated. The shadow values were then multiplied by each vessel characteristic to calculate a total vessel value. From the vessel values, a depreciation cost was calculated as 4% of the value for those vessels less than 25 years old and 2% of the value for those vessels 25 years or older.