Subsidies, Fisheries Management, and Stock Depletion

This paper investigates the impact of fishery subsidies on resource stocks in 23 OECD countries during 1996–2011. Results show that the effect of subsidies depends on the type of subsidy and the management regime. Within this sample, cost-reducing subsidies have no effect on stocks if management is individual quota based but have negative effects if management uses traditional input/output restrictions. Subsidies for improving fishery management and infrastructure produce beneficial effects on stocks under traditional management, but no effect with individual quota–based management. These results suggest global efforts to reform fishery subsidies should be carried out in a highly selective manner.