Fish Demand Exceeded UK's Current Sea Supply

According to one of the archives stated by an online newspaper, The Guardian on the 21st August 2012, the level of consumption this year has already met the annual fish supplies which leaves the UK reliant only on imported stocks. As we all know, the economy is where a market based economy may be described as a limited social network where goods and services are freely produced and exchanged according to demand and supply between goods or services by the barter system or a medium of exchange with a credit or debit value accepted within the network. Since determinants of supply and demand other than the price of the good in question are not clearly represented in the supply-demand diagram, changes in the values of these variables are represented by moving the supply and demand curves. In contrast, responses to changes in the price of the good are represented as movements along unchanged supply and demand curves.

This year, the UK’s fish consumption has already matched what our seas can supply for the year, leaving the country with no choice but to be reliant on imported cod and haddock for fish and chips, fellow campaigners have been given a warning regarding such travesty.

In a simple conclusion, annual fish supplies from UK seas can only satisfy demand for 233 days, so if the UK were to rely on its own fisheries for the year we would run out of stocks by today. The situation has worsened since last year, when the UK effectively ran out of fish more than a month earlier than in 2012, but is largely unchanged over the past decade. This shows that there is an obvious shortage in the fishery market throughout the UK. An illustration of a shortage diagram is shown below.

As the quantities demanded are slowly rising, it is to occur that there will be a type of substitution effect and also income effect. Substitution effect is whereby if the price of a good rises, other things remain the same, its opportunity cost rises. Every good has its substitutes. As the opportunity cost of the fish rises, the incentive to economize on its use and switch to a substitute becomes stronger.

Whereas income effect is when a price rises, other things remaining the same, the price rises relatively to the income. Faced with higher price and an unchanged income, people cannot afford to buy the things they previously bought. They must decrease the quantities demanded of at least some fishes. Usually, the good whose price has increased will be one of the goods that people will buy less of.

On the demand curve, it is to be illustrated by the demand curve and the demand schedule. The term quantity demanded refers to a point on a demand curve.

Another way of looking at the demand curve is as a “willingness and ability to pay curve”. This curve is a way to measure the marginal benefit. If a small quantity is available, the highest price that someone is willing and able to pay for one more unit is high. But as the quantity available increases, the marginal benefit of each additional unit falls and the highest price that someone is willing and able to pay also falls along the demand curve.

 In the term of supply, it refers to the entire relationship between the price of a good and the quantity supplied of it. Supply is illustrated by the supply curve and the supply schedule. The term quantity supplied refers to a point on a supply curve which is the quantity supplied at a particular price.

If we can fix this by using the price adjustments way, it can maybe smoothens the economic crisis. Suppose the price of fishes is RM2. Consumers plan to buy 20 million fishes a week, and producers plan to sell only 12 million fishes a week. Consumers just can’t force producers to sell more than they plan to. In this situation, powerful forces operate to increase the price and move it toward the equilibrium price. Some producers notices the unsatisfied consumers, they tend to raise the price. As producers push the price up, the price rises toward its equilibrium. The rising price will reduce the shortage because it decreases the quantity demanded and increases the quantity supplied. When the price has increased to the point at which there is no longer a shortage, the forces moving the price stop operating and the price comes to rest at its equilibrium. An example of the change of demand diagram is shown below.

The second way to fix this is that if a type of surplus forces the price down. Powerful forces operate to lower the price and move it toward the equilibrium price. Some producers, unable to sell the quantities of fishes they have planned to sell, cut their prices. In conjunction, some producers scale back their production. The falling price decreases the surplus because it increases the quantity demanded and decreases the quantity supplied. When the price has fallen to the point at which there is no longer a surplus, the forces moving the price stop operating and the price comes to rest at its equilibrium.

If the UK's seas were better managed to allow fish stocks to recover from over-fishing  it could maybe meet annual demand from its own waters and even be a net exporter of fish. Ian Campbell, one of the reporters pointed that fishing within sustainable levels and acclimating fish consumption to available resources is the only way to attain healthy fishing grounds. Over-fishing has been a central failing of the current common fisheries policy and the UK is determined and also must to be ensuring that catches are set at a level that is conceivable.

*Random fact: The fastest fish is sailfish. It can swim as fast as car travels on a highway.

By Rose Elida