On the back of a recent paper lauding transparency in fisheries management as a key component in keeping fisheries sustainable is the debut of a new website that aims to enhance transparency with regards to the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy.
The website, http://www.fishsubsidy.org/, allows visitors to search and browse for payments originating from the EU Common Fisheries Fund by country, subsidy type (scheme), or even vessel. The site references previous subsidies work from the Fisheries Economics Research Unit in the categorization of different subsidy types into Good, Bad and Ugly subsidies – a concept first introduced by Sumaila & Pauly (2006).
Surely this new website is a giant step forward in increasing management transparency for the EU fishing fleet, which is one of the world’s largest in terms of annual landings.