Fisheries subsidies data at your fingertips

March 2024

The OECD Fisheries Support Estimate (FSE) database is a unique source of information on government support to capture fisheries, allowing policy makers and other actors to understand, compare and assess fisheries policies across OECD countries and other large fishing nations.

Governments typically use a wide range of policies to support their capture fisheries. This can include, for example, the management of fish stocks and regulation of fishing activities; income support for fishers; or subsidies to purchase or modernise vessels and gear.

What data does the FSE contain?

This unique database is publicly accessible on the OECD statistical portal, and is updated every two years, with data starting in 2010. For each country in the database, a list of all relevant policies is provided, with policy-level data on:

The nature of support (what is being supported by a policy) or sector contribution (what is being paid for by the sector).

The cost of support or the value of payments by the sector, which is, the amounts disbursed or collected by the government with each policy on a yearly basis.

Some of the key characteristics of those policies, such as who is eligible for support.

Governments also typically charge the fishing sector for some of the support it provides, for example, with fees for using port infrastructure, licence fees or taxes on fishing activities. The FSE database provides comparable and standardised information on all these policies.

It compiles and categorises data reported to the OECD by governments and collected by the OECD from official government documentation following a method that makes them comparable across countries and time. It covers 40 countries, which together represent 90% of global capture fisheries production by volume.

Relevant policies include:

• Direct payments to individuals and companies in the fishing sector, e.g. fuel and vessel subsidies or income support.

• Public financing of services and infrastructure, such as monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS); port construction and operation; or payments for access to foreign waters

• Tax concessions, such as reductions on or exemptions from taxes on fuel for fishing or import duties on fishing gear.

• Concessional finance, i.e. access to finance on preferential terms, such as below-market interest rates on loans for acquiring fishing vessels.

• Payments made by the fisheries sector to public finances, such payments to access fish resources (e.g. fishing licence fees), for using infrastructure (e.g. port-use fees) and for fisheries management (e.g. general fishing fees or quota management fees).

Fisheries subsidies data at your fingertips

Support to fisheries in the FSE database (2020)

Composition of total support (FSE)

Poland

Slovenia

Sweden

Canada

Costa Rica

Türkiye

Denmark

United States

New Zealand

Japan

Belgium

Estonia

Greece

OECD

Ireland

Latvia

China

Italy

Norway

Germany

Lithuania

Australia

Korea

Colombia

United Kingdom

Iceland

Chinese Taipei

Mexico

Portugal EU (access agreements)

Spain

Netherlands

Chile

Argentina

France

Indonesia

Viet Nam

Philippines

Peru

Malaysia

India

Brazil

Total FSE as % of landings value

unavailable

of landings unavailable value of landings unavailable value of landings unavailable value of landings unavailable value of landings unavailable

Note: Landings value data were unavailable for Brazil, India, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

Source: OECD (2022), Fisheries Support Estimate (FSE), http://stats.oecd.org/wbos/default.aspx?datasetcode=FISH_FSE, Marine landings, http://stats.oecd.org/wbos/default.aspx?datasetcode=FISH_LAND; (OECD, 2022).

What can you do with the data?

The database allows you to explore a wealth of policy questions, such as:

• How has my country’s support to the fisheries sector evolved over the last 10 years?

• Has support in my country presented risks of encouraging unsustainable fishing?

• How much support does my country give to managing fish stocks compared to other countries?

The FSE database will help countries analyse their support as a basis for making it more sustainable, and for helping countries meet commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14.6), Global Biodiversity Framework (Biodiversity Target 18) and World Trade Organization 2022 disciplines on harmful fisheries subsidies

Fisheries subsidies data at your fingertips

How to use the FSE database

The database allows users to:

• Generate queries and download data in a range of formats (e.g. Excel, CSV).

• Access detailed individual country profiles that provide an overview of support to fisheries as well as complementary information on fisheries management and the health of harvested fish stocks.

• Compare fisheries subsidies and spending in your country with 40 others worldwide using the compare your country tool. Interactive graphs are available showing:

• Gross total support to fisheries (FSE)

• Net total support to fisheries (FSE net of payments made by the sector)

• FSE as a percentage of the value of landings

• Support for services to the fisheries sector relative to fleet size

• Direct support to fishers relative to the number of jobs in the sector

Need more help?

Useful resources

• The FSE Database

• Country profiles

• The FSE Manual

The OECD secretariat can provide technical support with interpreting and using the database, including generating reports and graphs. Please do not hesitate to contact the OECD Fish team to clarify any doubts you may have, make suggestions for improvements or provide other feedback. The OECD Fish team can be reached at: fish.contact@oecd.org.

This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.

This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.

The use of this work, whether digital or print, is governed by the Terms and Conditions to be found at http://www.oecd.org/termsandconditions

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