Blog
When Crime Pays: How the EU subsidises illegal fishing
March 11, 2010
Fishsubsidy.org today publishes a list of 42 convictions of fishing vessel owners that have also received EU subsidies under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The study, which focuses on two major EU fishing nations, Spain and France, involves matching records of court convictions with data on EU fisheries subsidy payments. Between them, the 36 law-breaking [...]
Spanish tuna vessel Alakrana got 4.3 million euro in subsidies
Dec. 16, 2009
A few months ago the Spanish tuna fishing vessel Alakrana hit the headlines after it was captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia. A huge rescue operation was mounted and it is understood a seven-figure ransom was paid for the release of the vessel and its crew of 36. Over at fishsubsidy.org we can [...]
EU is failing in its promise to make fisheries subsidies more transparent
Sept. 16, 2009
European Union countries are failing in the promise to make the common fisheries policy more transparent, claims a new report from FishSubsidy.org. With the policy undergoing a fundamental review, the report—“Slipping through the net: How EU countries evade new budget transparency rules”, by investigative journalist Brigitte Alfter—provides a timely overview of access to information about [...]
Find out how your taxes helped empty the seas
June 25, 2009
Today sees the launch of a new transparency website from the FollowTheMoney.eu stable. It presents data on 97,260 payments totalling 8.5 billion euro from 1994 to 2006. Of this 3.4 billion euro was paid to vessels and 5.1 billion euro to non-vessel recipients. Most of this money was paid from the EU budget with some [...]
Exposed: how the EU subsidises illegal fishing
May 26, 2009
While Europe’s sensitive fish stocks are dwindling rogue fishermen continue to over-exploit the seas in boats built with EU money. This is an extraordinary example of where policy meets reality: efforts by the EU to preserve our fish sare being thwarted by EU measures to build a better fishing fleet. Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money [...]