Reforming Fisheries Subsidies

Suggested Bibliographic Reference: NAAFE Forum 2017 Proceedings, March 22-24, 2017. Compiled by Ann L. Shriver with assistance from Stefani Evers. North American Association of Fisheries Economists (NAAFE), Corvallis, 2017.Fisheries subsidies have been roughly estimated to be as high as $35 billion worldwide, of which about $20 billion have been categorized as capacity-enhancing subsidies that directly contribute to overfishing. Since 2001, the necessity for reforming fishing subsidies has been part of the discussions in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Several emerging economies including Mexico are claiming for special and differential treatment, arguing that subsidies actually help countries to develop their own fishing sectors. This paper shows that, at least for the case of Mexico, there are not real domestic benefits for subsidizing fisheries; in contrast, there could be important benefits if redirecting fishing subsidies to investments in fishing management