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Oceana has published a report on what it says are the true amount of subsidies provided to the fishing sector by the European Union (EU) and its Member States.
The international marine conservation organisation says that EU fisheries subsidies are more than three times greater than the number generally provided by the Commission, which only takes into account payments from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), and not those given to the sector by individual Member States.
It claims that in 2009, subsidies to the fishing sector totalled € 3.3 billion, and in 13 Member States, the amount they were given in subsidies was higher than the total value of their fish landings. Oceana says Finland and Germany’s fishing sector, for example, received respectively three and 1.5 times more in subsidies than the value of their landed catch. The fishing sectors of Spain, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Italy received the most fishing subsidies, totalling of € 1.9 billion.
“The fisheries sector, which often fails to generate profit, owes its life to generous subsidies schemes,” says Anne Schroeer, Baltic Sea Project manager at Oceana Europe.
“The EU fishing industry’s addiction to European taxpayer funded subsidies has led to overfishing, fleet overcapitalisation, reduced economic efficiency in the sector and the failure to obtain the potential economic benefits from the resource.”
Oceana says it is gravely concerned by the extent to which the EU continues to provide capacity enhancing subsidies.
Even though subsidies that directly give incentives to the expansion of the fishing fleet - such as vessel construction, modernisation, and the export of fishing vessels - are not allowed under the EFF, there are a number of loopholes and exceptions, says Oceana. These include include fuel subsidies, funding for replacing engines, marketing and promotional campaigns, and the construction of fishing ports and cold stores.
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