Big mistake in fisheries fuel use article from yesterday
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton - July 30, 2014
There was a big mistake in the
article we ran yesterday from Laine Welch Fish Radio on fuel usage in fisheries.
The scientific article referred to fuel use in Litres - and the article used gallons. For example, the authors claimed flatfish fuel consumption was 747 litres - i.e. 197 gallons, not 747 gallons per ton which is an economic impossibility.
As one of our readers wrote in the comments, with a ton of flatfish worth $1300 in Dutch Harbor, that amount of fuel would cost $2700.
However, even the global averages are misleading. For example, the scientists claim that flatfish trawlers use 197 gallons per ton, but the actual experience in the Bering Sea is that most use far less than even 100 gallons per ton, with some in the 70-80 gallon range. So the actual fuel cost per ton is more like $300 to $500.
So one way of looking at this is the Bering Sea flatfish fleet is nearly 3 times as fuel efficient as the global average....
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