USA: "fifty-six percent of fishing industry direct subsidies in the U.S. could be considered harmful to fisheries"

This is a quote from the press release by the Pew Charitable Trust that presents the main findings of a study by Renee Sharp, director of Environmental Working Group's California Office and renowned fisheries economist Ussif Rahid Sumaila, director of the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. The study also found that subsidies amounted to 21 percent of the $31 billion U.S. commercial fish harvest between 1996 and 2004.

Concerning fuel subsidies the study suggests that 44 percent of federal and state subsidies support fuel costs.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has also published a summary of the study on its website.

Here are the links to the Pew Charitable Trust's press release and to the wepage of theEWG's California Offfice:

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49752

http://www.ewg.org/fishing-subsidies