Spain: Deep-sea fishing gets as much aid as its turnover
54% of the world’s deep-sea fishing loses money and it is only maintained by governmental subsidies. Spain is a good example of this because, after Japan, is the country that grants more public aid to fisheries in relation to the market value of its catches.
This is confirmed by a study conducted by eight scientists from the USA, Canada and Australia, coordinated by the Spanish biologist Enric Sala, director of the Pristine Seas Project from National Geographic. As Salas explains to the El Mundo newspaper, the report reveals that “deep-sea fishing is only maintained by the subsidies it receives”.
The study, published in the scientific journal Science Advances last June, is based on data from 2016 and states that, in that year, the catches of the Spanish deep-sea fleet amounted $637 million (€518 million at the current rate), and received subsidies worth $603 million (€515 million). That means that for every 100 euros of fish landed, the sector got 99 euros and 42 cents in public aids.
The Spanish DG for Fisheries and Aquaculture told the newspaper that “without going into the article content on subsidies, I would like to state that Spain only applies the EU rules for granting aid, with absolute control over it”.
According to the study, the only country with a more exaggerated ratio in terms of public intervention in the deep-sea sector, is Japan, where the aid is equivalent to 103% of its turnover.
Spain is the fifth country in the world with the largest deep-sea fleet by number of vessels, according to this report, which analyzes 14 fleets accounting for 90% of catches worldwide.
Japan and Spain may be the countries which most subsidize their deep-sea fleet but their sectors are not the most dependent on subsidies. This is explained because, in both cases, this activity leads to benefits. In other words, Spain could reduce these subsidies by 24% (€122 million) and its sector would still be profitable although, obviously, many companies would enter losses.
In the case of Japan, the world’s third largest deep-sea fleet, the aid cut could reach 21%.
That cannot be applied to the two countries with the largest deep-sea fleets, China and Taiwan, whose fleets are totally and absolutely dependent on public subsidies to survive.
Source: El Mundo