Subsidies in Indian fisheries-Methodological issues and implications for the future

Subsidies are financial contributions made by Government or public bodies which provide a private benefit. Westlund (2003) defined fisheries subsidies as “government actions or inactions that are specific to the fisheries industry and that modify – by increasing or decreasing – the potential profits by the industry in the short, medium or long-term”. World attention was drawn to the scale of the global fisheries crisis and also the extent of fishery subsidies in 1992 with the publication of an FAO report, Marine Fisheries and the Law of the Sea: A Decade of Change. The adverse effect of subsides depend on the existing management regime and the bioeconomic conditions of the fishery. Subsidies lower the cost of harvest and raise the effective price of fish. As a management tool, cost-reducing or profit-increasing subsidies may result in increased productive efforts and hence considered as harmful through over exploitation of fish resources and unsustainable harvesting