Estimating the economic impacts of maritime port development: The case of A Coruña, Spain

In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of port megaprojects in Spain (Ferrol, Gijón, Pasaia, Tenerife) justified, among other reasons, by the need for increasing storage and transport capacity, the location of container logistic centres on major shipping routes, or the need to have refuge harbours to avoid oil tanker accidents in case of bad sea conditions. The development of the megaproject for the A Coruña Outer Port in Galicia (northwest of Spain) is very controversial due to its major impacts on nearby fishing, and seafood banks affecting fishing and shellfish activities. We propose a methodology to assess these impacts on multi-species and multi-gear traditional fisheries. The analysis includes the impacts on over fifty fish and shellfish species (e.g. sand sole, European squid, spinous spider crab, common cuttlefish, European pilchard, pouting, gilthead sea bream, octopus, goose barnacle and seaweeds). Stakeholders’ knowledge (e.g. administration, professionals, fishermen) was used to assign non-spatial commercial data (landings) to the corresponding gears employed and fishing grounds affected by the port development. Our results show that the short-term economic losses are between 2.6 and 3 million Euros (2005 prices) and are mainly related to inshore fishing activities. Our results served as a frame of reference for negotiations between representatives of the A Coruña fishermen’s guild and the Port Authority.

► The annual loss for the local fishermen was 2.6–3 million Euros.
► We developed a specific valuation method for the economic impact on inshore fishing activities.
► The analysis includes over fifty fish and shellfish species.
► The results were used to determine compensation to offset the damage to fishing activities.