Fisheries: which are the 10 countries which subsidize the fleets which attack the seas of the world?

The 10 nations that subsidize the most fisheries allocate $ 15.4 billion a year, or 69% of global fisheries subsidies, according to a survey by Oceana, an organization dedicated to the study and protection of the oceans and Based on data from 2018, the latest available, calculated the annual amount of fisheries subsidies at $ 22.2 billion.

The Top 10 affiliate nations are led by China, with $ 5.9 billion, and the podium is completed by Japan, with $ 2.1 billion, and South Korea, with $ 1.5 billion . Next come Russia ($ 1.2 billion), the United States and Thailand ($ 1.1 billion each), Taiwan and Spain ($ 700 million each) and Spain ($ 600 million) and Norway (500 million USD) ends the list.

More than a third of the subsidies, according to the study, go to fishing on the high seas and in the territorial waters of less developed countries far removed from the countries of origin of the subsidized fleets and affect the fisheries of 116 nations, which are thus wronged.

The most damaging

“Generally speaking, harmful subsidies are payments that allow fishermen to travel further, stay at sea longer or have more capacity than without such subsidies,” one passage explains, pointing to the one of the problems that afflict the Argentinian fishing sector, which has denounced to many the predatory action of foreign fleets, especially Chinese, in the Argentine Sea and in the so-called “Mile 201”, with real night cities operating in the capture of species listed as squid.

The main subsidized item in the case of Chinese fishing vessels, Argentine companies say, is fuel, to which they add minimal payments to fishing crews, giving them an additional competitive advantage.

Of the $ 15.4 billion in subsidies from the top 10 countries, the study specifies that $ 5.3 billion goes to fishing in remote waters, which makes them particularly harmful, according to the study, prepared by Daniel Skerritt and Rashid Sumaila, University of British Columbia.

Indeed, the studies highlight that for high seas fisheries, China is “once again the largest provider of harmful subsidies, with an aid volume of $ 2.9 billion (more than half), while the largest cumulative footprint of harmful subsidies is found in Japanese waters where long-haul fleets of other fishing powers are estimated to have spent $ 1.4 billion ”. Japan is the second largest fishing subsidiary.

WTO meeting

The Oceana study is published two weeks before the ministerial-level meeting that the World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold on July 15 to agree rules to reduce fishing subsidies that reinforce fleet overcapacity, overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. .

“Oceana urges WTO member states to end harmful fishing subsidies that facilitate overexploitation and unsustainable long-distance fishing,” said a statement from the NGO that accompanied the dissemination of the study .

In the waters of less developed countries, catches and subsidies received by foreign fleets “far exceed those of the national fleet”, specifies the newspaper, which underlines that “with subsidies which often represent between 20 and 40% of The value of the catches, it is highly likely that long-distance fleets would not be profitable if they did not have fishing subsidies and unrestricted access to the territorial waters of other nations ”.

As an extreme case of a poor country whose waters are prey to foreign fleets, Oceana cites the case of Guinea Bissau (Africa), where subsidies to foreign fishing are 1,173 times higher than the value of national fishing. .

“The disparity between the cost and benefits of fisheries subsidies has real moral and ethical implications. On average, to enable their long-distance fleets to access African waters, foreign fishing powers spend double what Africa offers their own national fisheries in dollars. For some West African countries, fish accounts for up to 60% of the protein in their diet, ”said Rashid Sumaila, one of the study’s co-authors.

“After 20 years of delay, we are running out of time and out of fishing, we must immediately stop subsidizing overfishing. The WTO should have long ago adopted rules to eliminate harmful subsidies to fisheries; this is the biggest specific action to ensure an ocean with abundant fish in the future, ”said Andy Sharpless, CEO of Oceana.

What to do

Concretely, in view of the WTO meeting of July 15, the NGO calls for: 1) To prohibit subsidies harmful to fishing and all related support activities outside the specific jurisdiction of each Member State of the organization; 2) Call on major funders to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility for removing harmful subsidies and redirecting those funds to beneficial areas; and 3) Develop a framework for the mitigation of harmful fisheries subsidies that is transparent, imposes specific deadlines, is results-based and has clear reporting standards for all Member States.

Oceana was founded in 1999 after a study which found that less than 0.5% of global aid funds through NGOs and foundations went to care for the ocean. Influencers and celebrities who support the organization include Miguel Bosé, Pierce Brosnan, Morgan Freeman, Harrison Ford, Sting and Barbra Streisand.

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