EU subsidies contributing to problem of over-fishing, study finds

A THIRD of EU subsidies for the fishing industry over the past 12 years went to building bigger fishing vessels while another third went to scrapping fleet, a new website on where the money goes has revealed.

The research shows that EU funding has been fuelling the over-fishing that has left more than 80% of species in danger, the author of the website, Pew Environment Group, says.

Using figures gleaned from the European Commission, it shows that Spain is by far the biggest recipient of subsidies,having received more than 44% of the total over the past few years, followed by Italy with 12%.