Small-Scale Fisheries and Global Subsidy Reform

Transcription

1 Small-Scale Fisheries and Global Subsidy Reform Anthony Charles Saint Mary s University, Halifax, Canada IIFET 2016

2 The Nature of Fishery Subsidies 1. Fishery subsidies: government financial transfers to the fishery that increase profitability differentially relative to other economic sectors. 2. OECD: The monetary value of government interventions associated with fisheries policies 3. government financial transfers to fishery sector, of two sorts: direct financial transfers services and indirect financial transfers.

3 Unpacking the Impacts of Fishery Subsidies Subsidies are often portrayed as an evil force in fisheries But the reality is stated by Munro and Sumaila (2002: p.234) in summarizing Schrank (2001): individual subsidies are not to be judged on an a priori basis. While some subsidies may produce socially undesirable results, others may be neutral in their effect, while yet others may produce highly desirable results. There are many negative impacts of subsidies, but it would be simplistic to consider all subsidies as bad. Instead we need caseby-case context-specific analysis, dependent on objectives pursued.

4 Small-Scale Fisheries Small-scale fisheries are community and culturally connected, more labour than capital or fuel intensive. The new global Voluntary Guidelines on Small-scale Fisheries drive policy. Also must consider the UN Sustainable Development Goals, e.g. food security and human rights.

5 SSF and Rights FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries: States should appropriately protect the rights of fishers and fishworkers, particularly those engaged in subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fisheries, to a secure and just livelihood, as well as preferential access, where appropriate, to traditional fishing grounds and resources... Two key elements in this statement: 1. the right to a secure and just livelihood for small-scale fishers (relates to human rights) 2. the right to preferential access to traditional fishing grounds and resources (relates to use rights over access to fishery resources).

6 SSF and Stewardship A human rights perspective does not imply universal access to fisheries. Allison et al.: As well as defining rights to fish, the rights of present and future generations to benefit from resources should be included. Achieving Resource Stewardship: Original view: give away fishing rights then let the market take over. Modern view: best stewardship is from place-based (community) rights, with governmental enforcement, to maximize compliance & overall system efficiency.

7 Finding the ingredients of success in community environmental stewardship, sustainable livelihoods, and effective government engagement.

8 SSF and Subsidies World Trade Organization (WTO): fisheries as a test case for incorporating environmental considerations into trade negotiations. Rationale: fish stock depletion is driven in part by fishing subsidies Links conventional emphasis on reducing trade-distorting measures with a focus on eliminating environmentally bad subsidies But subsidies also affect human development, so international fora treat subsidies differently between developing and developed countries, or between SSF & industrial fisheries. Two key realities: 1. negative aspects of subsidies largely in industrial not SSF; 2. some subsidies may support SDG and support human rights.

9 Evaluating Fishery Subsidies Fishery subsidies in SSF might be evaluated using three criteria: 1. their trade distorting effects 2. their environmental impacts 3. extent of contribution to (or impeding progress toward) the SDG. Truly bad subsidies: negative impacts on all 3 criteria Fully good subsidy: positive in all three dimensions. A desirable subsidy is minimally trade distorting & simultaneously supports human development with marine conservation benefits

10 SSF: Negative Subsidies Subsidies with negative impacts on SSF include those with negative environmental effects, and those that tend to favour industrial fisheries. Examples: Investment subsidies for vessel modernization (& excess capacity) Fuel subsidies (tend to go disproportionately to industrial fisheries) Subsidies promoting access rights negatively affecting communities Care is needed to fully understand effects of subsidies with respect to the right to food, and other social, economic, human and fishing rights.

11 SSF: Positive Subsidies Subsidies may have a positive impact in environmental and human development dimensions and simultaneously reinforce rights: To improve access of small-scale fishing communities to the fishery To facilitate good governance and organizational capacity, and provide legal space and empowerment (e.g. community management). To aid small-scale fishing communities in acting as stewards, e.g. supporting traditional management practices and local institutions. To improve food security (e.g., local fish markets, rights of women) To reduce waste & improve integration in the post-harvest sector.

12 Policy Issues relating to Fishery Subsidies From a SSF perspective, interactions of subsidies with policy can affect fishery sustainability, and have significant distributional implications: Fishery Efficiency. If a subsidy is meant to affect efficiency of the fishery, for whom & at what scale is efficiency being assessed, is the subsidy supporting not just vessels and fleets, but also communities, and society more broadly? Is it supporting better fishery stewardship? Fishery Capacity. How do subsidies interact with fishing capacity? Should help meet objectives while considering impacts on multiple factors (ecological, rents, income distribution, community welfare ). Livelihood Diversification. Subsidies can boost sustainability and resilience by aiming at diversification (1) in the fishery itself, (2) as extra employment options for fishers, and (3) of the local economy.

13 Distributional Impacts of Subsidies Small-Scale versus Large-Scale. To what extent is the subsidy targeted explicitly on, or benefiting indirectly, SSF vs. LSF? Internal Distribution. subsidies have a marked distributional effect. This means in turn that subsidies carry all manner of equity implications experience shows that in virtually all societies, it is often the powerful who obtain subsidies by causing weaker groups to shoulder some costs of their activities. (Myers & Kent) Impacts on fishery system components. For example, subsidies affecting post-harvest sector could help integrate fishery into rural development, but could change role of women in fish marketing, and hence cohesion of communities. Supply chain changes could divert fish from local to export markets, or from food to fish meal.

14 Distributional Impacts: A Typology Fisheries Subsidies TYPE 1: BROAD BASED Financial support provided broadly, to the fishery plus other targeted sectors. May include support available to all in society as public goods. MPA may be public good, even if differential effects on those in fishery. TYPE 2: FISHERY SPECIFIC Subsidies that benefit all in the fishery, but no one outside that sector. A clear case of government financial support to fishery, not provided to others. May cause distributional impacts in places where some benefit, others do not. TYPE 3: FISHERY COMPONENT Targeting one or more components of the fishery, favouring those over others. Affects the division of fishery benefits and costs among participants. May reflect government policy, e.g., subsidy to a gear sector, vessel category, etc.

15 Distributional Impacts: Specific Subsidies License and quota buyouts; Vessel decommissioning Payments to boat/quota owners but not usually crew & related sectors. Livelihood diversification: Retrain fishers for other industries May directly benefit certain fishers (i.e. those motivated for re-training) but may also serve as investment in reducing pressure on fish resources. Support community management, producer organizations Impact includes broader coastal society and economy) but support for producer organizations will generally be focused more narrowly. Research and development Research may benefit fisheries, but also other sectors. Environmental gear development may not benefit fishers but have high social value. Exploratory fishing May only benefit those with the capital needed to become involved.

16 Conclusions While most of the world s fishery subsidies go to industrial fisheries, SSF are also relevant to plans for global subsidy reform. Must include fishery rights & human rights + human development perspective (poverty alleviation, food security) in subsidy debates. Must consider differences between good and bad subsidies in SSF, and recognize subsidies supporting place-based fishery stewardship. Must consider distributional impacts, including between kinds of subsidies (i.e., Broad-Based, Whole Fishery, Fishery Component).

17 Acknowledgements Community Conservation Research Network ( Conservation.Net) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Peter Allgeier, Eddie Allison, Chris Béné, Fikret Berkes, Simon Bush, Derek Johnson, Sherry Pictou, Courtney Sakai, Rashid Sumaila, Melanie Wiber, and Rolf Willmann.

18 References Charles, A. (2011) Human rights and fishery rights in small-scale fisheries management. In: Smallscale Fisheries Management (R.S. Pomeroy & N. Andrew, editors). CAB International. Charles, A. (2009) Rights-based fisheries management: The role of use rights in managing access and harvesting. In: Cochrane, K.L. and S.M. Garcia (eds.) A Fishery Manager s Guidebook. Wiley, Oxford. FAO (1995) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome. FAO (2007) Social Issues in Small-Scale Fisheries. Report prepared for 27th session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI), 5-9 March COFI/2007/6. Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome, Italy. Hannesson, R. (2001). Effects of Liberalizing Trade in Fish, Fishing Vessels and Investment in Fishing Vessels. OECD Papers Offprint No.8. OECD, Paris, France. Munro, G.R. and U.R. Sumaila (2002). The impact of subsidies upon fisheries management and sustainability: The case of the North Atlantic. Fish and Fisheries 3: Myers, N. and J. Kent (2001). Perverse Subsidies: How Tax Dollars Can Undercut the Environment and the Economy. Island Press. Washington USA. OECD (2000). The Impact on Fisheries Resource Sustainability of Government Financial Transfers. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris. Schrank, W.E. (2001). Subsidies for Fisheries: A Review of Concepts. p in: FAO Papers Presented at the Expert Consultation on Economic Incentives and Responsible Fisheries. Rome, 28 November 1 December FAO, Rome, Italy. Sumaila, U.R., A.S. Khan, A.J. Dyck, R. Watson, G. Munro, P. Tyedmers, D. Pauly (2010) A bottom-up re-estimation of global fisheries subsidies. Journal of Bioeconomics.