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A bottom-up re-estimation of global fisheries subsidies

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Journal of Bioeconomics Aims and scope

Abstract

Using a recently developed database of fisheries subsidies for 148 maritime countries spanning 1989 to the present, total fisheries subsidies for the year 2003 is computed. A key feature of our estimation approach is that it explicitly deals with missing data from official sources, and includes estimates of subsidies to developing country fisheries. Our analysis suggests that global fisheries subsidies for 2003 are between US$ 25 and 29 billion, which is higher than an earlier World Bank estimate of between US$ 14–20 billion. This new estimate is lower than our 2000 global subsidies estimate of US$ 30–34 billion. We find that fuel subsidies compose about 15–30% of total global fishing subsidies, and that capacity enhancing subsidies sum to US$ 16 billion or about 60% of the total. These results imply that the global community is paying the fishing industry billions each year to continue fishing even when it would not be profitable otherwise—effectively funding the over-exploitation of marine resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries Economics Research Unit, Sea Around Us, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    U. Rashid Sumaila

  2. Fisheries Economics Research Unit, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Andrew J. Dyck

  3. Fisheries Centre, The University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Reg Watson, Gordon Munro & Daniel Pauly

  4. Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, A1B 3X9, Canada

    Ahmed S. Khan

  5. Faculty of Management, School for Resource and Environmental Studies (SRES), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Peter Tydemers

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  1. U. Rashid Sumaila
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  2. Ahmed S. Khan
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  3. Andrew J. Dyck
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  4. Reg Watson
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  5. Gordon Munro
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  6. Peter Tydemers
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  7. Daniel Pauly
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Correspondence to U. Rashid Sumaila.

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Sumaila, U.R., Khan, A.S., Dyck, A.J. et al. A bottom-up re-estimation of global fisheries subsidies. J Bioecon 12, 201–225 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-010-9091-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-010-9091-8

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