The impact of fishery fuel subsidy policy on fishery resources and policy suggestions

Abstract:

At present, more and more countries and international organizations pay attention to the impact of fishery subsidies on fishery resources. Since the fishery fuel subsidy policy was carried out in 2006, it has effectively relieved the contradiction between diesel prices rise and the fishery production. Meanwhile, the number of fishing vessels is increasing. But a large number of subsidies may raise the fishing effort and also lead to the gradual degradation of the fishery resources and the deterioration of the ecological environment. In view of this, this paper introduces the main contents and the current situation of fishery fuel subsidy policy, and then analyses the changes in Gordon-Schaefer model with the fishery fuel subsidy to explain the impact on fishery resources. The result shows that when the fishery is in free entry, the fishery fuel subsidies could contribute to the utilization of fishery resources, and also will lead to overfishing. If the government doesn't intervene in fishing industry, it will increase the load on the fisheries resources. Finally, some policy suggestions about the fishery fuel subsidy are made based on the sustainable utilization of fishery resources. Firstly, we can adjust fishery subsidies coefficient for calculating oil. Secondly, we can use step-type subsidy standards to give subsidies according to the actual fuel consumption. Last, we should strengthen the publicity and guidance of fishery fuel subsidy policy to eliminate misunderstanding.