Billions of dollars of damaging subsidies continue to be poured into fishing every year, despite governments agreeing long-standing goals to eliminate them. The money makes fuel cheaper and increases capacity so boats catch more fish. Analysts say the subsidies make fishing seem more profitable than it really is and are driving a global decline in fish populations.<\/p>\n
In the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey of fishing subsidies produced to date, an international team of scientists found that $35 billion of public money went into fishery subsidies in 2018. It classified $22 billion of that as harmful because it went towards increasing catch capacity.<\/p>\n
Published in the journal Marine Policy last month, the analysis<\/a> found that fuel subsidies represent nearly a quarter (22%) of all financial support provided to fishing fleets.<\/p>\n Fuel subsidies are widely considered among the most harmful because they make it affordable for more vessels to spend the time at sea necessary to chase down dwindling fish populations.<\/p>\n