Health of Canadian fishing industry and marine claims are correlated: RSA

RSA and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are working together to help create a network of Marine Protection Areas (MPAs) in order to protect fish stocks and coastal communities’ livelihoods.
In a global report on emerging environmental risks, RSA notes a correlation between the health of the Canadian fishing industry and the number of marine insurance claims.
“The main threat we face when insuring fishing vessels is the overall viability of the industry,” Kevan Gielty, president of RSA’s Coast Underwriters, says in the report, Insurance and the Marine Environment: Emerging Risks Briefing. “There is a direct correlation between an industry downturn and an increase in claims.”
The report explains further: “From an insurance perspective, declining stocks puts severe financial pressure on the [fishing] industry.
“This has meant that some fishermen are not completing the necessary maintenance to their vessels or choosing to save the cost in insurance premiums and simply not buying cover.
“This puts increased pressure on public and governing bodies to subsidize the lost revenue.”
But when implementing policies to increase Canada’s fish stock (such as fishing quotas, for example), governments need to make sure their well-intended policies do not unintentionally harm other aquaculture species, RSA and WWF caution in the report.
The full report can be found at: http://www.wwfrsapartners.com/risk-reports/