"The Effort to Stop Subsidizing the Depletion of Fish Stocks"
Abstract
I trace the two decades research effort by our group at the University of British Columbia to build databases and conduct analyses in support of the mandate given to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the global community to remove or redirect subsidies that lead to capacity and overfishing, i.e., the so-called harmful fisheries subsidies. First, I present the fisheries subsidies database containing data on the amount of fisheries subsidies given to the wild marine fisheries sector by maritime countries worldwide. The database has become part of the global fisheries management infrastracture that is relied upon by many countries in their ongoing WTO negotiations. Second, we characterize the subsidies in the database into beneficial, harmful and ambiguous subsidies depending on whether the subsidy is likely to lead to overfishing or not. Third, I report results of our study of the scope and magnitude of different subsidies for all maritime countries; the distribution of the subsidies provided by each country between its small and large scale fishing fleets; and determine the burden imposed by distant water fishing fleets on the waters of other countries when they give subsidies.
Our most recent study suggests that total global fisheries subsidies was USD 35.4 billion in 2018, of which harmful subsidies were USD 22.2 billion. The top five subsidizing political entities (China, European Union, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan) contribute 58% (USD 20.5 billion) of the total estimated subsidy. We also estimate that between 24% and 43% of all harmful fisheries subsidies impact foreign waters or the high seas. Over 40% of the harmful subsidies impacting low-HDI countries originate from high-HDI countries. This discrepancy between the source of harmful subsidies and the nations that are ultimately impacted is unsustainable and unjust. A third finding from our research is that there is a major imbalance in subsidy distribution, with SSF receiving only about 20% of the total global fisheries subsidy in 2018. In other words, a fisher engaged in large-scale fisheries receives 4 times more subsidies than their small-scale counterpart. The economic and social consequences of this inequity at a global scale impair the economic viability of the already vulnerable small-scale fishing sector.
Some of the conclusions from our group include taxpayers' money should be used to support sustainable fishing practices and in turn ocean conservation, and not to increase the degradation of marine ecosystems. Policy-makers from all nations must push for effective multilateral subsidies reform. Prohibiting subsidies to distant-water fishing should be prioritized to support equitable and sustainable fisheries worldwide.
Speaker Bio
Rashid Sumaila is a Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, as well as University Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, marine protected areas, illegal fishing, climate change, marine plastic pollution, and oil spills. Sumaila has experience working in fisheries and natural resource projects in Norway, Canada and the North Atlantic region, Namibia and the Southern African region, Ghana and the West African region and Hong Kong and the South China Sea. Dr. Sumaila’s research involves: (i) applying game theory to fisheries, to, for example, identify whether or not developing countries should give access to their fisheries resources to foreign fleets; (ii) rethinking the nature of the discount rates applied to natural resource projects, and formulating a highly original alternative (“intergeneration discount rates”); (iii) understanding the nature, amounts and effects of government subsidies on global fisheries; (iv) documenting the employment in fisheries and competing uses of living marine resources; and, (v) estimating the multiple benefits that would be obtained globally by rebuilding fish stocks and setting up marine reserves, including the concept of the ‘High Seas’ as a large marine reserve or a ‘fish bank’ for the world.