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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
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| SEPTEMBER
9, 1998 5:30 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: World Wildlife Fund Tina Dreyfus 202-778-9509 |
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| Massive Government Subsidies Bloat Fishing Industry and Violate World Trade Rules; WWF Calls for New International Fisheries Rules and Mechanisms | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- September 9 - More than 90 percent of the tens of billions of dollars in government
subsidies to the world's fishing fleets are administered in violation of world trade
rules, according to a study released today by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The study, The
Footprint of Distant Water Fleets on World Fisheries, warns that massive
subsidies—including tax incentives, loan schemes, direct payments, and other
financial supports—are propping up a global fishing fleet now estimated to be two and
a half times larger than what can be sustained either ecologically or economically. “These subsidies are staggering. Governments are subsidizing overexpansion of the world’s fishing fleets that are conservatively estimated to reach 20-25 cents for every dollar earned by fishermen worldwide,” said David Schorr, director of WWF’s sustainable commerce program. “With 70 percent of the world’s most valuable fisheries overfished or nearly so, governments continue to promote an industry whose size and practices are a recipe for economic ruin. The time has come for new and more effective international rules to control fishing subsidies.” According to recent estimates, the world's fishing nations, including the United States, China, Japan, the Russian Federation, Norway, Korea, and the European Union, collectively pay between $15 and $54 billion each year in fishing subsidies. Many of these subsidies support distant water fleets that are already too large given the available fish resources. The U.S. pays approximately $400,000 per boat to help its fishermen obtain access to tuna fisheries in the South Pacific. And in 1996, the EU spent $252 million--one-third of its annual fisheries budget--on access agreements for its distant water fleets. The subsidies findings are a part of a larger report which explores the ecological and economic issues associated with distant water fishing fleets (vessels fishing outside the waters surrounding its territories). According to the study, since World War II, governments have increasingly supported distant fishing fleets as their own coastal fish stocks have disappeared and market demand for fish products has increased. The report finds that distant water fleets have taken a heavy toll on remote, unprotected fisheries -- causing important stocks to plummet and permitting poachers the ability to operate with virtual impunity. Developing countries are often particularly disadvantaged by these practices. “Distant water fishing fleets pose a major problem to the health of world fisheries,” said Scott Burns, director of WWF’s marine program. “WWF is concerned about the impact of these fleets on already depleted fish stocks, and on the economic viability of local fishing communities, especially in the developing world.” WWF is calling on governments to:
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