Indicators of ineffective fisheries management Rashid Sumaila Fisheries Economics Research Unit UBC Fisheries Centre Coastal Zone 2007, Portland, Oregon July 25, 2007
Three indicators Poverty index; Policy sensitivity index; Subsidy indices.
Fisheries subsidies: A definition Fisheries subsidies are financial payments from public entities to the fishing sector, which makes the sector make profitable than otherwise.
Why the concern about subsidies? Subsidies are substantial and have to be paid by someone; Subsidies have socio-economic, distributional and trade impacts on fishing communities, regions and countries; Fisheries subsidies recognized worldwide as contributing to over-fishing.
Why the concern about subsidies? Overcapacity and overfishing overcapitalization and subsidies Fishing Intensity Biomass Courtesy V. Christensen Biomass t·km -2
How subsidies induce overfishing MEY MSY Bionomic equilibrium (BE) Total cost of fishing effort (TC) Total Revenue (TR) Fishing effort (E) TR & TC ( $) E1E1 E2E2 E3E3 Max. rent TC1 TC2 BE 2 BE 1 TR & TC ($) E3E3 E4E4 Fishing effort (E) Cost-reducing subsidies Gordon Schaefer bioeconomic model
Identifying & categorizing subsidies ‘Good’ subsidies: Fisheries management and services; Fisheries research and development.
Identifying & categorizing subsidies ‘Bad’ subsidies: Tax exemption programs; Foreign fishing access payments; Boat construction renewal and modernization programs; Fishing port construction and renovation programs; Fishery development projects and support services; Marketing support, processing and storage infrastructure programs; Fuel subsidies.
Identifying & categorizing subsidies ‘Ugly’ subsidies: Fisher assistance packages; Vessel buyback programs; Rural fishers’ community development programs.
Computing subsidy indices Created a database of the 12 types of subsidies identified for 144 maritime countries for 1995 to 2005; Use the database to re-estimate the magnitude of subsidies; Use the re-estimated subsidies to calculate a number of indices.
Total global subsidies
Comparing estimates
Subsidies by category
Subsidies by geographical region
Subsidies by major fishing nations
Subsidy indices Percentage of ‘Bad’ subsidy to the sum of ‘Bad + Good’ subsidy; Ratio of landed value/‘Bad’ subsidy; Amount of ‘Bad’ subsidy per fisher; Percentage of fuel subsidy to landed value of bottom trawlers active in the high seas.
Indices: Top 10 performers Countries Good/(Good +Bad)Country LV/Bad Subsid yCountry Bad ($)/ Fisher New Z.1.0Nigeria487New Z.0 Nigeria 0.94Peru132Nigeria1.25 Peru0.84UK 18China178 USA0.77Netherlands 18Peru204 Ireland0.76Australia 17Indonesia220 Sweden0.68USA 16Eqypt245 Japan0.63Sweden 16Vietnam268 Poland0.54Ireland 15Ghana317 UK0.50Chile 14Myanmar346 Canada0.44Canada 11UK370
Indices: Bottom 10 performers Country Good/(Go od+Bad)Country LV/Total SubsidyCountryBad ($)/ Fisher Korea0.08Spain3France11565 Yemen0.07Bangladesh3Yemen14845 Taiwan0.07Russia3Canada19393 Spain0.06Philippines3Portugal26962 India0.06Yemen3Argentina31027 Thailand0.05Namibia2Japan42192 Brazil0.04Ghana2Australia73994 Turkey0.02Denmark1Namibia China0.01Brazil1Iceland Malaysia0.00India1Denmark342717
Fuel subsidy estimates to high sea bottom trawl fleet Country Fuel used (m liters) Fuel subsidy (US$m) Landed value (US$m) Subsidy per Landed value (%) Japan Australia South Korea Russia Iceland Ukraine Faeroe Isl Estonia j Lithuania Latvia France Spain Total
Concluding remarks ‘Bad’ subsidies constitute the bulk of subsidies paid by governments to their fishing sectors – big barrier to effective fisheries management and governance; Countries perform differently under different subsidy indices, revealing different areas for improvement in fisheries management and governance.
Thanks for your attention EC Contract No