Fishsubsidy.org, which in 2009 launched an online database of European Union fisheries subsidies from 1994 to 2006, has launched a new database of payments under the European Fisheries Fund, from 2007 to 2010.
The project’s co-founders are sounding a warning about the deteriorating quality of EU fisheries subsidies data released to the public and the implications of this “waste, fraud and abuse of EU funds.”
The ranking is topped by Sweden. Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia and the United Kingdom score relatively highly, though with significant deficiencies. The worst performers were Greece and Portugal, which appear to have published no data at all, despite spending a significant share of EU funds. Spain, which accounts for some 40 percent of fisheries subsidies spending, scores just 48 percent in the transparency ranking.
“It is really, really bad. Many governments don’t comply with basic EU laws on transparency,” said Nils Mulvad, Fishsubsidy.org co-founder. “Some governments publish no data at all, other are publishing incomplete data in bad formats like PDF files running to thousands of pages. This money from the EU budget, paid for by European citizens who have a right to know who gets what. The European Commission must get a grip.”
“There is a new European Transparency Initiative. But today we have less information on EU fish subsidy payments than we used to have in past years. It’s a real step backwards in transparency and at a time when we desperately need to know how this money is being spent,” said Jack Thurston, Fishsubsidy.org co-founder. “Are EU funds are being used to fish for over-exploited fish stocks, or perhaps worse, for criminal fishing operations. We just don’t know. What is most startling is that neither does the commission because we know that they have not themselves asked for this data from national governments.”
Fishsubsidy.org is coordinated by EU Transparency, a UK-based nonprofit, and the Pew Environment Group. The aim is to obtain detailed data related to payments and recipients of fisheries subsidies in every EU member state and make this data available in a way that is useful to European citizens. Subsidies paid to owners of fishing vessels and others working in the fishing industry under the European Fisheries Fund total about EUR 1 billion a year. Last November, the website produced a map illustrating EU fisheries subsidies.
