Fishing Subsidies Archives

Oceana strictly opposes subsidies for the construction of new fishing vessels

Re-flagged EU fleet activities in developing countries lack transparency and operate outside EU fisheries laws or official Fisheries Partnership Agreements. Oceana, the international marine conservation organisation, strongly opposes fishing subsidies for capacity enhancing and the construction of new vessels. Currently, 80 percent of the world’s fish stocks are overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted or recovering … Read more

Fishing Subsidies: News & Reports

Fishing Subsidies: Achievements

Thanks to Oceana, the European Court of Justice forced Italy to reimburse €7M it received in subsidies for the conversion or decommissioning of its fleet. Oceana proved that the fleet was never converted or decommissioned and that the funds were used to increase the fishing efforts. Oceana reported various vessels for illegal fishing, one of … Read more

Fishing Subsidies: State Aid

In addition to the subsidies available under the official EU funds, Member States can take the initiative to provide additional funding to their sector under the state aid mechanism. These investments are only approved by the European Commission on the condition that the subsidies comply with the objectives of the European fisheries policy and do … Read more

UNEP workshop on fisheries subsidies and sustainable fisheries management

Society as we know it, perhaps in every country on earth, would not exist in its present form without economic subsidies. Economic support knows many different faces: apart from direct payments to those in need, it may be provided through public-private partnerships or bi-lateral agreements, by joining a free trade agreement or union (such as … Read more

Oceana denounces Spanish owned pirate fishing vessel and asks for tough measures against IUU fishing

Oceana has documented and urged action by the Spanish government against the IUU fishing vessel “Furabolos” (IMO 8604668), now named “Eros 2”, and flying a Panama flag, currently in the port of Santa Eugenia de Ribeira in Galicia, Spain. IUU means “illegal, unreported and unregulated” fishing and it is a major contributor to overfishing and … Read more

Subsidies: Overview

For decades, EU fisheries subsidies have fuelled the growth of the EU fleet to a level estimated to be two to three times higher than what the ocean can sustainably provide and then artificially maintained the overcapacity of the fleet, driving the overfishing of our seas. Yet the vast majority of Europe’s fishing fleets is … Read more

Fishing Subsidies

Oceana denounces Xunta de Galicia insists to grant €4 million subsidies to fishing pirates

Today the international marine conservation organization Oceana is publishing a case study with two letters, revealing that the European Commission any direct responsibility for subsidies, to spend under the European Fisheries Fund for a company, closely linked to IUU fishing (Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported) and the Xunta de Galicia find no legal reason for not … Read more

Oceana: only an ecological reform of EU fishing policy would recover fish stocks and keep jobs

This week, the European Union is closing their public consultation for a reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) from 2012. Oceana is asking the European Commission to focus the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy on improving the balance and the health of the oceans. Healthy oceans are not only a prerequisite for fisheries … Read more