Blog
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) discusses the way forward for fishery subsidies
A short new video posted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on video sharing site YouTube is an excellent quick introduction to fisheries subsidies and why it is an important issue. Watch for appearances by Dr. Sumaila at 1:22, 2:37, and 2:59 in the video below. Key concepts excerpted from the video are: “almost [...]
We all pay to overfish the oceans
Many of the world’s fish stocks are currently over-exploited and some, such as Canada’s Atlantic cod, have collapsed completely without much hope for renewal. There are many reasons why these stocks are in decline, however, there is one major factor that we have direct control over, yet fail to take action — government subsidies. The [...]
Overfishing amplifies world hunger
A recent United Nations food summit in Rome alerts the world that the number of under-fed people is now more than 15% the world’s estimated 6 billion population. It is now believed that the number of under-nourished people around the globe exceeds 1 billion for the first time in history. Just weeks after preliminary results [...]
Questioning the effectiveness of consumer awareness campaigns in fisheries
The Vancouver Sun reports yesterday on a paper by the Sea Around Us project’s Jennifer Jacquet and co-authored by Rashid Sumaila of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit. Coverage by that news organization is just one of several who have picked up on the story that consumer awareness programs, such as the Marine Stewardship Council’s product [...]
Fisheries subsidies negotiated at the WTO
The Economist magazine reports on developments from the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) where delegates are hoping to hash out an agreement on fisheries subsidies. The article summarizes some of the issues surrounding an agreement on fisheries subsidies within the WTO including the idea that a deal on fisheries subsidies may be delayed [...]
Fisheries subsidies discussed by MacLean’s magazine
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 $US 30 billion in subsidies to global fishing fleets annually. Photo by: Grantsviews (via Flickr) Macdonald accurately suggests that low food prices are [...]
Climate change to cost global fisheries US$ 10 billion per year according to new World Bank report
A new World Bank study, authored with contributions by Rashid Sumaila and William Cheung, predicts that the global fisheries sector is likely to lose an estimated $US 9.64 billion in revenues in the year 2050 due to climate change. A draft version of the full report, available here, explains that under one possible climate change [...]
Sustainable development session appearance
Recently Dr. Sumaila was in Germany to present some of his work at a session for the European Commission’s 2009 Sustainable Development conference. An audio recording of the session titled “Enhancing global sustainability through international cooperation” is available in it’s entirety. You can listen for Dr. Sumaila’s presentation between 01:40:30 and 02:01:59 of the downloadable [...]
Short Fishery Subsidy Interview at AAAS 2007
Although this is an older (2007) video, it is worthy of mention since Dr. Sumaila expands a little further on the impact of subsidies in the high seas, difficulties associated with removing subsidies, and mentions an estimate of total subsidies to the world’s fisheries from Sumaila et al. (2006) — more than USD $30 billion. [...]
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.
Climate Change Alters Fish Distributions
February 13, 2009: Dr. William Cheung, a graduate of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit now teaching at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, is interviewed by the BBC for an article titled Bleak Forecast on Fishery Stocks. The article quotes Dr. Cheung saying: “The impact of climate change on marine biodiversity and fisheries is [...]
Africa’s Fisheries Hit Hard by Climate Change
February 9, 2009: A report recently released by the WorldFish Center suggests that Africa’s fisheries may have a difficult time coping with climate change. A news story presented by E & E Publishing quotes Dr. Rashid Sumaila of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit saying: “Recently, there has been a big spike of interest in climate [...]
New Idea for the New Year #6
December 29, 2008: Alternative media outlet The Tyee has published a list of new ideas for the new year with the Fisheries Economics Research Unit’s Dr. Rashid Sumaila as the focus of New Idea # 6. Dr. Sumaila considers what can be done to improve the lives of fishermen and improve the state of the [...]
Cut in Pacific Tuna Catches
December 12, 2008: Dr. Sumaila is quoted in an Associated Press Article on Tuna Catches “The general consensus among scientists is that the stocks of bigeye and yellowfin in the Western and Central Pacific are doing relatively better than those of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna, for example,” Rashid Sumaila, the acting director of the Fisheries [...]
One Solution to Save the Oceans
December 10, 2008: Fisheries Economics Research Unit Director, Dr. Rashid Sumaila contributes to an article for Conservation Magazine titled 10 Solutions to Save the Ocean. Dr. Sumaila discuses the issue of subsidies to high seas bottom trawlers saying: Marine ecosystems pay a hefty price for getting orange roughy, Greenland halibut, and deepwater shark to our [...]
Waves of Disaster
August 14, 2008: Dr. Sumaila appears in the Georgia Straight story ‘Waves of Disaster’
Full Price Fuel
July 16, 2008: Dr. Sumaila appears in the 24 Hours News Services story titled ‘Full Price Fuel’
Fuel Subsidies Better Spent on Retraining
July 15, 2008: Dr. Sumaila says that “fuel subsidies are better spent re-training fishers” in a UBC Media Brief.
