Will Fishing Subsidies Survive?

· Causa Natura carried out an analysis of the current Expenditure Budget of the Federation for the fishing sector of SADER and Conapesca.

· For this year, the budget for Conapesca in transfers, allocations, subsidies and other grants is zero.

In the Draft Expenditure Budget of the Federation (PPEF) 2020, a new fishing subsidy program called the Program for Fisheries Development had been incorporated and the one for the Promotion of Fishery and Aquaculture Productivity was maintained, although with a considerably smaller budget than the previous year. However, in the Federal Expenditure Budget (PEF) 2020 approved by the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union, there were two important modifications. The first is that the Fisheries and Aquaculture Productivity Promotion Program disappeared. The second was that the Fisheries Development Program is now part of a new multisectoral program: the Program for the Promotion of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture, whose budget amounts to $1,494 million pesos, which will be managed by SADER.

The PEF defines within its chapter 4000, called transfers, allocations, subsidies and other grants, the budgetary allocations for fishing subsidy programs, such as the one for the Promotion of Fisheries and Aquaculture Productivity. In previous years, this program had Conapesca as its Responsible Unit, and was aimed at boosting and developing the productivity of the fishing and aquaculture sector, as well as at encouraging fisheries management and inspection and surveillance for marine conservation. For this year, the budget for Conapesca in this area is zero.

The introduction of this multisectoral program managed by SADER raises several questions. First, if we consider that the new program covers three sectors: What percentage will be allocated to subsidies for fishing and aquaculture? It is important to contextualize that in 2019, $1.159 million in pesos were given for fishing subsidies alone. If we assume that the budget of the new program (1,494 million pesos) is divided between the three sectors, each receiving 498 million pesos, the fishing and aquaculture sector would receive 57% less in 2020 than the previous year. Second, the Unit Responsible for the new program will be the Undersecretary of Agriculture that depends on SADER. How will efforts be coordinated and articulated with the different Directorates-General of Conapesca?

It will be until the publication of the Operating Rules that it will be possible to know the structure of the new program, the responsible units, the central objective, the target population and the components that will be destined to strengthen the fishing and aquaculture sector.

Other aspects to highlight are the reduction in the budget for SADER programmable spending, which this year will receive 27% fewer resources compared to the previous year. Conapesca and INAPESCA, on the other hand, experienced a reduction in their administrative expenses of 8% and 3%, respectively.