Subsidies and their Implications on Fisheries Management in St. Lucia

Authors

  • Kaitlan Lay

Keywords:

Subsidies, St. Lucia, Fisheries management, Overfishing, Small-scale fishery

Abstract

Worldwide, fisheries subsidies contribute to fleet overcapacity, overfishing, and to the decimation of the marine environment.  Despite the fact that small-scale fisheries catch roughly the same amount of edible fish while causing less overall environmental damage, government preference for subsidy allotment continues to be in favor of industrial fisheries.  St. Lucia is a Caribbean island which is recognized as a small vulnerable economy that relies heavily on its small-scale fisheries for economic and social development.  The island nation has become largely dependent on foreign subsidies towards its fishery sector, with the majority of the subsidies designated to capacity enhancing programs, which lead to resource overexploitation.  This report discusses the importance of directing subsidies away from programs that negatively impact the fishery and moving them towards beneficial programs, with a focus on the development and implementation of effective fisheries management systems for St. Lucia.

Author Biography

Kaitlan Lay

Kaitlan Lay is in her first year of the Master of Resource and Environmental Management program at Dalhousie.  She has always been interested in environmental issues and has developed a strong interest in fisheries, fisheries subsidies and the ocean.  This paper was written for the Fisheries Management (5021) class that Kaitlan took in her first semester of the MREM program.

References

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Published

2011-03-19

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