The economic impact of aquaculture expansion: An input-output approach

- Output and employment multipliers for the Irish aquaculture sector are calculated.
- Macroeconomic impacts of seafood processing are considered.
- Aquaculture and related sectors have significant potential for the rural economy.

While the expansion of aquaculture production can confer positive economic impacts, under certain conditions, aquaculture can also have negative environmental impacts. Understanding the total economic impacts of aquaculture expansion is therefore necessary in order to make informed decisions when weighing economic considerations against environmental concerns. This paper considers the wider economic impacts, both direct and indirect of expansion in the Irish aquaculture industry. By disaggregating the aquaculture sector from Ireland's 2010 Input-Output table and calculating the resultant Leontief inverse matrix a number of economic multipliers for the aquaculture sector are estimated and used to calculate the potential indirect impacts of expansion. These multipliers are then used to estimate the economic impacts of reaching the targets set out in the recently published Irish national strategic plan for sustainable aquaculture, highlighting the potential for such an expansion to contribute to the rural economy.