Sustainable objectives and commitments deceived by fisheries subsidies for ‘temporary cessations’ in times of COVID

The European Commission launched the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiatives in March 2020, which aimed to help European economic actors, including the fishing sector, to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. This initiative was translated into French law in April 2020, through a decree laying down conditions for obtaining temporary cessation subsidies. Here, we demonstrate that, in stark contradiction with the European Union's international commitments and binding objectives, France allocated this fund in a way that mostly benefited large-scale, high-impact fisheries. In particular, we show that seven companies/groups received 28.5% of all subsidies, for only 53 vessels, i.e. 0.8% of the French fleet. We also show that vessels smaller than 12 m and operating lower impact, 'passive' gears only accounted for 8.7% of subsidies although they account for 74.5% of the French fleet. In contrast, vessels larger than 12 m (and up to 89.4 m) and operating higher impact, 'active' gears captured 70.5% of all subsidies, although they only account for 10.7% of the fleet. These results support the fact that despite celebrated commitments and objectives aiming to support low impact, coastal communities and to rebuild thriving marine ecosystems — including during the COVID-19 crisis — a key fishing state such as France keeps implementing policies that are tailored by and for the most powerful companies and impactful fishing practices.