Fisheries economics is the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of fish and seafood and the financial aspects of fishing and seafood industries. It examines how scarce fishery resources are allocated and used to meet the demands of consumers. Fisheries economics is important because it helps maximize satisfaction from limited fishery resources and promotes better standards of living through poverty reduction associated with the fishing industry and international trade of seafood.

1. FISHERIES ECONOMICS
Mohammed Shahidul Alam (Shaheen)
Assistant Professor
Department of Fisheries
University of Chittagong.

2. ECONOMICS
 Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and
interactions of economic agents and how economies work.
 Definitions
Wealth definition
Welfare definition
Scarcity definition and
Growth definition.
 The production, distribution, and consumption of fish and seafood and all
financial aspects of fishing and seafood industry.

3. WEALTH DEFINITION
Adam Smith is generally considered as the father of Classical economics. He
defined economics as the study of the nature and causes of national wealth. Adam
Smith considered the wealth getting and spending behaviour of human beings as
the primary objective of economics. It is called the wealth definition of
economics.
WELFARE DEFINITION
Alfred Marshall gave this definition. He shifted the focus of economics from
‘wealth’ to ‘welfare’.
Marshall defined economics as, “ the study of mankind in the ordinary business
of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely
connected with the attainment and with the use of the material requisites of well-
being ”.

4. SCARCITY DEFINITION
Professor Lionel Robbins provided this definition. According to him :
(i) man has unlimited wants or ends,
(ii) the means or resources to satisfy them are limited,
(iii) the resources are not specific and have alternative uses and
(iv) hence there is an urgent need to choose between wants
Thus, Lionel Robbins defined economics as the science which studies human
behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative
uses.

5. GROWTH DEFINITION
Prof. Paul.A.Samuelson, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, gave this definition of
economics.
According to him, “ Economics is the study of how people and society end-up
choosing, with or without, the use of money, to employ scarce productive resources
that could have alternative uses to produce various commodities and distribute them
for consumption, now or in the future among the costs and benefits of improving
patterns of resource allocation ”.

6. MICRO AND MACRO ECONOMICS
Microeconomics deals with individuals, households, firms and industries or
individual prices, wages or incomes. It studies the economic motives and behaviour
patterns of individual consumers and produces involved in organising and operating
individual business firms or industries.
Macroeconomics is the study of economic system as a whole, of the aggregate
consumption and demand and of the aggregate saving, investment and employment in
the economy. It deals with aggregates and averages of the system rather than
individual items in it.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Environmental economics is a branch of Economics that deals with application of
economic principles in the conservation and management of nature.
It is also called as Natural Resource Economics or Ecological Economics.
POSITIVE AND NORMATIVE ECONOMICS
Positive science is descriptive in nature as it describes what happens. It does with the
question of "what is?“
Normative science deals with the question of "what ought to be?" While the
positives science describes, the normative science prescribes.
Economics is a positive as well as a normative science. It describes what happens in
an economy and prescribes what ought to be done to put it on a desired path of
development.

8. RESOURCES
Resource refers to all the materials available in our environment which help us to
satisfy our needs and wants. Resources are classified as free goods and economic
goods.
Economic goods have an exchange value and we need to pay for it. They are traded
in a market. All goods produced using the four factors of production – Land, Labour,
Capital and Management – are generally economic goods as they have a price for
them.
Free goods are the gifts of Nature and do not have a price as they lack exchange
value. They are not traded in a market as there is no physical market for the services
of free goods. Hence, they are called non-market goods.
Resources can broadly be classified upon their availability — they are classified into
renewable and non-renewable resources.

9. RENEWABLE AND NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Resources are characterized as renewable or nonrenewable; a renewable resource
can replenish itself at the rate it is used (solar energy), while a nonrenewable
resource has a limited supply (oil, coal). Renewable resources include timber, wind,
and solar while nonrenewable resources include coal and natural gas.
IN BIOLOGY
In biology and ecology a resource is defined as a substance that is required by a living
organism for normal growth, maintenance, and reproduction. The main essential
resources for animals are food, water, and territory.

10. BIOLOGICAL VS ECONOMICAL DEFINITION OF RESOURCES
There are three fundamental differences between economic versus ecological views:
1. the economic resource definition is human-centered (anthropocentric) and the
biological or ecological resource definition is nature-centered (biocentric or
ecocentric);
2. the economic view includes desire along with necessity, whereas the biological view
is about basic biological needs; and
3. economic systems are based on markets of currency exchanged for goods and
services, whereas biological systems are based on natural processes of growth,
maintenance, and reproduction.

11. PRODUCTION
Production is defined as the transformation of one or more inputs into one or more
outputs.
The functional relationship between the inputs used and the outputs obtained is
known as production function.
SCOPES OF ECONOMICS IN GENERAL
The scope of economics is wide and varied.
Economics and economists have come a long way since then.
We find application of principles of economics in business, environment, natural
resource management, human resource management, marketing, etc.,
Thus the scope of economics has become enlarged encompassing many areas of
study.

12. SIGNIFICANCE OF ECONOMICS IN GENERAL
Economics has great significance to individuals, to the economy, production and
supply of goods and services.
Income, savings, wages, employment, money, banking and inflation are some of the
issues that affect people in one way or the other.
We have unlimited wants but the resources available to satisfy the wants are not only
limited but also have alternative uses. So, it becomes a question of choosing wants so
as to maximize our satisfaction. With globalization, free international trade is
emerging.
What happens in trade somewhere may have implications elsewhere, across the world.
Poverty reduction and better standards of living are considered priority objectives of
development.
All these aspects are dealt by economics. An understanding of basic economics would
be of great use to every one of us to manage our income, savings, investment, banking,
trade and consumption.

13. ASSIGNMENT
SCOPES AND SIGNIFICANCE OF FISHERIES ECONOMICS