CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Definition of Subsidies

Conclusions

• None of the commonly used definitions of subsidies is adequate for a comprehensive analysis of subsidies’ effects on trade and sustainability in fisheries and aquaculture.
• There is no definition of subsidies that the Consultation recommends as the only definition for the measurement, analysis and political debate of subsidies in fisheries.
• Definitions for four sets of subsidies are needed in order to advance the measurement, analysis and discussion of subsidies in fisheries and aquaculture.

Recommendations

• Any analysis and discussion of subsidies in fisheries and aquaculture make explicit which of the four sets of subsidies is being considered.
• Further economic research should be pursued on the issue of whether and how to include management costs in any definition of subsidies.

B. Impact of Subsidies on Sustainability of Resources

Conclusions

• Few studies have attempted to link the value of subsidies quantitatively to the effect on fish stocks
• If there were perfect control of effort, then the effect of a subsidy on sustainability through increases in capital and labour or efficiency would be matched by a compensatory reduction in effort.
• Crucial to the analysis of subsidies is the ability to trace their effects first, to changes in costs and revenues and therefore in profits. Second, to trace the effects of changes in profits to changes in effort, and third, to trace the effects of changes in effort on the state of the stock, as measured by changes in biomass

Recommendations

• Subject to available data, there are three approaches for estimating impact of a subsidy on the sustainability of a fishstock:
• Dynamic mathematical modelling using real fishery data;
• Econometric estimation of relationships based on time series, cross section or pooled data;
• Simple qualitative models
• In respect of impact on fishery resources priority for future study was given for the following categories: capital expansion', 'tax waivers and deferrals', and 'price support'.
• Future studies should also explore the potential effect of subsides for:
• Technological development and adoption of size and species selective gear
• Designing and adopting habitat protecting gear
• Fostering recruitment enhancement technologies, and
• Fostering friendly use of critical coastal ecosystems (e.g. wetlands, mangroves, estuaries, coastal lagoons, wetlands and sea grass beds) which are relevant to fisheries.

C. Impact of Subsidies on Trade in Fish and Fish Products

Conclusions

• The existing state of knowledge about the magnitude of subsidies and their impact on trade is limited.

Recommendations

• Research should proceed in a cost-effective and coherent manner.
• The theoretical platform should be provided by conventional fisheries economics models adapted specifically for examining the issues of trade.
• The research strategy - involving applied dynamic fisheries and trade models and econometric model building - should be targeted at actions that have potentially a relatively large “trade effect-to-expenditure effect ratio”.