SETTING THE RIGHT SAFETY NET: A FRAMEWORK FOR FISHERIES SUPPORT POLICIES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

The briefing argues that Covid-19 response policies for the fisheries sector should not merely provide financial relief but should be used to 'build back better' by integrating environmental and social goals. It introduces ten principles—including concurrent crisis response, efficiency, and conditionality—to evaluate support measures. The author advocates for income support over vessel-cost subsidies to avoid overcapacity and suggests that any support for fixed costs be conditional on environmental improvements, such as adopting low-impact gear. The document also warns against deregulation, such as increasing interannual quota flexibility, and calls for a long-term shift toward industry cost recovery for fisheries management.

• The author proposes ten principles for appraising fisheries support policies to ensure they deliver a healthier fishing sector and marine environment: concurrent crisis response, efficiency, rationality, speed, institutional integrity, anti-abuse, consultation, clarity and transparency, conditionality, and integration.
• Income support is identified as the most efficient and least environmentally harmful approach to addressing the economic crisis in fisheries, as it is less likely to increase fishing capacity or effort compared to other measures.
• Financial support for fixed business costs is criticized for being inefficient and likely to lead to overcapacity in the fishing fleet; the author argues that such support should be conditional on environmental improvements, such as the use of stunning equipment or low-impact gear.
• The document opposes deregulation efforts, specifically the proposal to increase interannual total allowable catch (TAC) flexibility from 10% to 25%, arguing that this fails the principles of rationality and concurrent crisis response and could crash prices in 2021.
• To combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing during the pandemic, the author recommends enhancing remote surveillance and non-observer monitoring, such as electronic reporting systems and cameras, to replace reduced physical monitoring.
• The author argues for a long-term transition where the fishing industry pays for fisheries management costs, resource rent for accessing public resources, and environmental damages, noting that such models exist in other resource industries and countries like Iceland, the United States, and Namibia.

APA

Carpenter, G. (2020). SETTING THE RIGHT SAFETY NET: A FRAMEWORK FOR FISHERIES SUPPORT POLICIES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zzcn3xti/setting-the-right-safety-net-a-framework-for-fisheries-support-policies-in-response-to-covid-19-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

Carpenter, Griffin. SETTING THE RIGHT SAFETY NET: A FRAMEWORK FOR FISHERIES SUPPORT POLICIES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19. ClientEarth, 2020. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zzcn3xti/setting-the-right-safety-net-a-framework-for-fisheries-support-policies-in-response-to-covid-19-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Carpenter |first1=Griffin |title=SETTING THE RIGHT SAFETY NET: A FRAMEWORK FOR FISHERIES SUPPORT POLICIES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 |publisher=ClientEarth |date=May 2020 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/zzcn3xti/setting-the-right-safety-net-a-framework-for-fisheries-support-policies-in-response-to-covid-19-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carpenter2020setting, author = {Carpenter, Griffin}, title = {{SETTING THE RIGHT SAFETY NET: A FRAMEWORK FOR FISHERIES SUPPORT POLICIES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/zzcn3xti/setting-the-right-safety-net-a-framework-for-fisheries-support-policies-in-response-to-covid-19-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }