Book Description

Subsidies and the environment have been a major issue in international trade negotiations for decades. Subsidies to fisheries production may be the most environmentally destructive natural resource subsidies of all. Fisheries subsidies have been a significant factor in the global fisheries crisis of the past two decades. This study provides an analytical framework for international consideration of the issue of fisheries subsidies, trade and the environment. It considers natural resource subsidies in economic theory and examines the mechanisms by which natural resource subsidies contribute to environmental degradation. The study shows how fisheries subsidies affect fish stock. It offers three case studies of fisheries subsidies and their impact in terms of the over exploitation of fish stocks. It is stated that fishing subsidies issue should not be treated narrowly as a trade issue, because it is pre-eminently an environmental issue, and only secondly a trade issue.