As has been noted in several publications by the Fisheries Economics Research Unit (FERU), subsidies are a very important issue in world fisheries. Spain’s fishing fleets are no exception, as has been recently investigated by Kate Willson, Mar Cabra and Marcos Garcia Rey of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The authors undertook an in-depth analysis of the Spanish fishing industry and have found that subsidies received from the European Union and Spanish governments have totaled € 5.8 billion since 2000.
On an annual basis, the authors found that one in three fish is paid for by the public purse. Quoting Fisheries Economist Andrew Dyck, the authors note:
“Fish are not an unlimited resource … when the public purse is the only thing propping this industry up, we are paying for resource degradation.”