Do Economies Recover Their Fisheries? Evidence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve for Fish Stock Status

Davor Mance (), Dejan Miljenović and Ismar Velić
Additional contact information
Davor Mance: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Dejan Miljenović: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Ismar Velić: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-18

Abstract: The depletion of global fish stocks poses a major challenge to sustainable development, particularly in economies where marine resources are critical to livelihoods and food security. In this study, the relationship between economic development and the sustainability of fish stocks is examined using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). We use panel data from 32 economies between 2002 and 2020 and analyze the fish stock status indicator (EPI_FSS) from the Environmental Performance Index, which captures the proportion of national catches from overfished or collapsed stocks. Using a dynamic panel approach and the generalized method of moments (GMM), we investigate how the human development index (HDI) and other socio-economic factors influence changes in the state of fish stocks. Our results show a statistically significant inverted-U-shaped (∩-shaped) relationship between the HDI and the state of fish stocks, suggesting that the deterioration of fish stocks increases at lower levels of development, but improves beyond a certain threshold. In addition, higher levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), education, and research and development (R&D) spending are associated with better outcomes for fish stocks. These results suggest that while early economic growth may put pressure on marine resources, sustained investment in human capital, innovation, and global integration is critical to promoting long-term marine sustainability.

Keywords: environmental Kuznets curve; fish stock status; human development index; sustainable fisheries; foreign direct investment; education; research and development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6646/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6646/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6646-:d:1706432

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().