An overview of financial subsidy programs in Vietnamese fisheries during the past 25 years: An evaluation and recommendations towards improved future mechanisms

Fisheries subsidies have been implemented for decades in many countries as a mechanism to support food security, livelihood and sustainable fisheries. However, there have been increasing concerns about the effectiveness, controllability, and relationship between subsidies and overfishing, and fisheries resource degradations since the early 1990 s. Because of the importance of marine fisheries in social economic development and national food security, the Vietnamese government introduced the first fisheries subsidies in 1997. After that three more subsidy programs were implemented in 2008, 2010, and 2014 with targeting on offshore fishing fleet development. This study provides an overview of the context, contents, application, achievement, and limitations of those four Vietnamese fisheries subsidies during the past 25 years. A total of more than $1.5 billion has been distributed for loans, quasi-lump sum fuel cost support, and insurance programs to improve fishing capacity and operation. The number of Vietnamese offshore fishing boats substantially increased from 2,891 boats in 1996 to 34,825 boats in 2023 partly based on those capital credit programs. However, subsidy schemes have shown several limitations. All of these have been discussed in this paper, in addition to recommendations of possible strategies for reform. The paper can help policy makers and managers to better design for future fisheries development programs to align with the World Trade Organization’s agreement on fisheries subsidies.