Oceana reveals the true amount of EU subsidies

Fishermen in the EU recieve 3 times as much money in subsidies than the EU claim
11 October 2011



The true amount of subsidies to the fishing fleet in the EU is 3.3 billion euro. This number is three times higher than what the European Commission usually claims. Oceana revealed this in a new report on fishing subsidies published in September. 13 out of the 27 member states receive more money from subsidies than the value of the fish they land. Furthermore Oceana made clear that landlocked countries who do not even have a fishing fleet such as Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic receive money from fishing subsidies - Money which all comes from taxes paid by EU citizens.

The wealthy countries in the region around the Baltic Sea are no exception. In 2009 Denmark received 307 million euro in subsidies which is the highest amount given after Spain and France. The same year Finland received around three times as much money in subsidies as the value of their landings. Swedish fishermen just managed to earn the same amount as they were granted.

Most European fishing boats only function in power of the subsidies as they fail to generate profit on their own. Tax-payer funded subsidies are in this way keeping a fishing fleet alive that causes overfishing, fleet overcapitalization and grave consequences for both the economy and the environment. Oceana urge to put an end to the harmful subsidies immediately.

Oceana’s report on subsidies has been widely acknowledged. Medias throughout the world helped bringing these interesting news and important new figures to the public’s and decision makers’ attention. Following our report the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a series called “looting the Seas.” Partly based on Oceana’s report, ICIJ reveals more facts on harmful subsidies as well as examples of fraud and negligence in the fishing sector.

You can read some of the articles here

Yle (Finland)
Södermanlands Nyheder (Sweden)
Stern (Germany)
Rzeczpospolita, Poland
El Pais (Spain

You can read more about Oceanas work on subsidies here. You can also get a short overview on subsidies from this video produced by Oceana TV

Read our press releases in different languages on subsidies here