New EU Fisheries Subsidy Website
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 […]
Transparency Key to Promoting Sustainable Harvests
A recurrent theme in fisheries is that management matters. A recent paper published by Dr. Camilo Mora and co-authored with Dr. Rashid Sumaila of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit reveals that management transparency is important in promoting fisheries sustainability. The authors arrive at their results by utilizing a survey of more than 13,000 fisheries experts […]
FERU Cited in American Budget Document
The work of Dr. U.R. Sumaila, Director of the Fisheries Centre and the Fisheries Economics Research Unit (FERU), is cited in the 2010 version of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Budget Blue Book. The document, which is available on-line from NOAA, reports Dr. Sumaila’s research as showing that “…. the net present value […]
Dr. Sumaila Named as Fisheries Centre Director
Recognizing a growing but already highly successful career, the University of British Columbia’s College for Interdisciplinary Studies (CFIS) has named Dr. Ussif Rashid Sumaila as the Director of the Fisheries Centre. This announcement will bring many new challenges and opportunities to Rashid who is also the Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit. Research groups […]
Omega3 Consumption Advice Puts Pressure on the Environment
A recent report co-authored by FERU’s Dr. Sumaila proposes that the conventional wisdom that Omega3 fatty acids found in fish oils benefit one’s health may not be as sound as we thought. The report titled “Are dietary recommendations for the use of fish oils sustainable?” not only questions the science behind recommending high consumption of […]
Dr. Sumaila Named to Leopold Fellowship
March 13, 2009: The Woods Institute Leopold Leadership Program is an important tool in promoting environmental research by building leadership, communication, and consultation skills of participants. As reported by Stanford University’s news service, the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC is very pleased that Dr. Ussif Rashid Sumaila has been named as a Leopold fellow […]
Reef Fish Perform Best in Highly- and Under-Developed Regions
Dr. Sumaila is quoted in a recent article appearing on the Discovery News website. The article summarizes a new report by Tim McClanahan of Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation Society. Regarding McClanahan’s report Dr. Sumaila remarks that: Many of us have had these ideas, but they nailed it down here…it really gives managers and policy-makers a set […]
Eliminating Harmful Subsidies Could Improve Health of U.S. Fisheries
March 3, 2009:
A new report published by FERU’s Dr. Rashid Sumaila and Renée Sharpe of the Environmental Working Group suggest that fisheries subsidies were in excess of $713 million annually between 1996 and 2004. Appearing in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, the authors report that about 44% of subsidies provided through this time period were targeted at reducing the cost of fuel — a subsidy well known to lead to over-fishing.
The work of Sharp & Sumaila is in complement of previous reports by Khan et al. (2006) and Sumaila et al. (2008) who report global estimates of fisheries subsidies. Where these previous studies estimated harmful subsidies to be $332 million for the year 2000, this most recent report suggests that number is closer to $400 million. The Sharp & Sumaila report do not consider subsidies for fisheries management, which, was previously estimated to be $1.1 billion for the year 2000.