1.
Can subsidies work for fish
and for people?
Rashid Sumaila
Fisheries Economics Research Unit
Global Fisheries Cluster
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
r.sumaila@oceans.ubc.ca
@DrRashidSumaila
IIED Fish night with Sumaila
London, October 17, 2018

2.
Subsidies
Ocean
Conservation
People
Fairness
Positive Feedback
Negative Feedback

3.
Why ensure ocean sustainability?
• Crucial for the Earth’s environmental
balance & survival;
• Source of animal protein for many;
• Recreational, cultural & spiritual values;
• Support jobs; livelihoods & incomes.

4.
Marine fisheries employment
260 million people worldwide
involved in marine fisheries, including
direct and indirect sector
Top 10 countries providing marine employment
Teh and Sumaila (2011): Fish and Fisheries

5.
The global ocean is under threat

6.
Fisheries subsidies
Fisheries subsidies are financial payments
from public entities to the fishing sector,
which help the sector make more profit than
it would otherwise.

7.
How subsidies induce overfishing
MEY
MSY Bionomic
equilibrium
(BE)
Total cost of
fishing effort
(TC)
Total
Revenue
(TR)
Fishing effort (E)
TR
&
TC
( $)
E1 E2 E3
Max.
rent
TC1
TC2
BE2
BE1
TR
TR
&
TC
($)
E3 E4 Fishing effort (E)
Cost-reducing
subsidies
Gordon Schaefer bioeconomic model

8.
Questions addressed
• What are the types and categories of
fisheries subsidies?
• What is the amount of fisheries subsidies
provided by countries, regions & globally?
• What proportion of estimated national
subsidies go to small scale as compared
to large scale fisheries?

9.
• Beneficial subsidies
(‘investment’ programs in fish stocks).
• Harmful subsidies
(‘disinvestment’ programs in fish stocks).
• Ambiguous subsidies
(programs may benefit or harm fish stocks).
Categories of subsidies
Based on work by FAO, OECD, UNEP, World Bank, WTO, UBC

10.
Computing subsidies
• Created a ‘living’ database of subsidies
containing different types, for all maritime
countries;
• The first version of the database was
published in the mid-2000s (Sumaila et al.
2006; Khan et al. 2006).

11.
Methods: splitting global subsidies into
small- and large-scale fisheries
• By country and subsidy subtype;
• Data categorized into 3 groups.
• Assessed 74 countries (out of 147),
representing 97% ($34 of $35 billion)
of global total subsidies;
• Remaining 3% estimated based
on sub-region and subtype
averages.
Schuhbauer, Sumaila et al. (2017)

12.
26/10/2018 12
Subsidies are substantial
• Capacity-enhancing subsidies 57% of total USD 35 billion
• Subsidies to developed country fisheries at 65%.
Sumaila et al. (2013; 2016)

13.
Fisheries subsidies
Small versus large scale fisheries
Schuhbauer, Sumaila et al. (2017)

14.
26/10/2018 Global fisheries subsidies 14
Subsidies are made for inequality
Teh & Sumaila (2011); Sumaila et al. (2013)
-
50
100
150
200
250
300
Beneficial Capacity enhancing Ambiguous
Developing countries
Developed
Subsidyperfisheryworker(USD000)

15.
Subsidies
Ocean
Conservation
People
Fairness
Positive Feedback
Negative Feedback
Between nations Within nations
Between groups:
Gender/Indigenous people
Between generations

16.
– CBC radio interview:
http://oceancanada.org/about/media-coverage/
Concluding remarks

17.
Thanks for your attention!