Nancy Macdonald of MacLean’s magazine uses some information from Catching more bait: a bottom-up re-estimation of global fisheries subsidies in a recent article available on-line. She references our estimate of more than $US 30 billion in subsidies to global fishing fleets annually.
Photo by: Grantsviews (via Flickr)
Macdonald accurately suggests that low food prices are a direct result of subsidies to agriculture and fisheries, which, distort the consumer choices. The author aptly summarizes the problem of subsidies in Canada saying:
[t]oo often, subsidies shield Canadians from the true cost and value of the resources we consume. Many hearken back to an era when supply seemed inexhaustible and emissions and greenhouse gases had yet not entered the equation. But the billions spent supporting farmers, fishers and public water and energy utilities have led to higher taxes and overproduction; they have driven down prices and stifled innovation and conservation.
For more information about the harmful effects of food subsidies in general, blogger Ezra Klein has posted on this topic recently. Klein introduces a simple graphic explaining how government food subsidies distort prices and cause the phenomenon of a salad costing more than a Big Mac.