Fish Subsidies and the Exploitation of the Oceans

Over-exploitation of Ocean’s Resources

80% of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited or over-exploited. ¹

In 2006, 36% of the total world fisheries catch was destined for non-food use. It was used for fish meal and fish oil for animal foods. ²

These small pelagic (open ocean), low-value fish form the bulk of fisheries catch destined for non-food uses with the aquaculture sector being the largest consumer utilising 26% of the total catch. These are often taken as a by-catch of fishing operations and varies depending upon location and season. Most of these small pelagic fish (73%) are anchovies, sardines, herrings, pilchards and related fish.

Several species are either fully-exploited or over-exploited, namely Peruvian anchoveta, Alaska pollack, skipjack tuna, Atlantic herring, blue whiting, chub mackerel, Chilean jack mackerel, Japanese anchovy, large head hairtail and yellowfin tuna. ³

Fishing Subsidies

Fishing subsidies greatly distort the fisheries market. In 2009: ⁴

• Global fisheries subsidies were estimated to be US$35 billion. The total revenue from the industry is US$90 billion.
• Harmful subsidies constituted US$20 billion consisting of fuel subsidies, management, port and harbour tax relief and equipment modernisation.
• US$11 billion is spent on beneficial subsidies such as research with the remaining having unknown impact.

US$ 35.4 billion of global fishing subsidies were provided in 2018. 64% (group C) were benedicial to the fishing industry in that it allowed a greater catch of the dwindling resource, whilst 30% (group B) were beneficial and 10% (group A) were ambiguous. ⁵

Last updated on Thursday 12 June 2025 at 14:59 by administrators

1. United Nations. (2010, May). General facts regarding world fisheries.
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3. Tacon, A. G. J. & Metian, M. (2009) Fishing for Aquaculture: Non-Food Use of Small Pelagic Forage Fish—A Global Perspective. Reviews in Fisheries Science. 17 (3), 305–317.
4. Sumaila, U. R. et al. (2016) Global fisheries subsidies: An updated estimate. Marine Policy. 69189–193.
5. Schuhbauer, A. et al. (2020) The global fisheries subsidies divide between small-and large-scale fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science. 7 (1), 792