Thursday, January 11, 11:00 – 12:30, Mexico Room
PROGRAM
Ensuring Economic Stability and Welfare of Fishers and Processors Through Insurance
Moderated by Cor Blonk
Livelihood Security in the Marine Fisheries Sector: Evaluating Human Life Value and Insurance Gaps in the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal (BOB) houses over two million marine fishers who are integral to the regional economy, providing both sustenance and employment. Yet, they face heightened occupational risks and poor economic security apart from increased exposure to cyclonic events. A concerning data void exists on fishers’ earnings and the gap between their Human Life Value (HLV) and insurance coverage. This gap not only signifies a social security deficit but also underscores the risk of pauperisation of fisher families in case of an adverse event. Therefore, given the region’s climate vulnerabilities and the inherent dangers of fishing, understanding the disparity between HLV and their insurance coverage is of utmost importance.
We conducted this study with the aim of establishing HLV of BoB fishers, particularly in India. The approach considers revenue distribution, pricing, catch consistency, active years, and risks for the calculation of HLV. It also equates book value against the replacement value for tangible assets, emphasising safety equipment and vessel integrity. Preliminary findings project an Indian fisher’s HLV at around US$ 65,250, in stark contrast to the meagre insurance coverage of US$ 6,050. In addition, despite a fully subsidised Group Accident Insurance Scheme being in vogue, the subscription by fishers is not universal. For assets, the replacement value of 1558 fishing boats in Chennai is US$ 128 million, while insurance coverage is about 10 percent only. In conclusion, the BoB’s marine fisheries sector, particularly in India, is economically vital but at high risk. A stark HLV and insurance disparity exists, which concerns the safety of fishers. While the sector is profitable, fishers confront significant hazards. Comprehensive insurance schemes emphasising safety and compensation for lost fishing opportunities are imperative. The paper will discuss the causes of gaps in insurance coverage among marine fishers in the region and possible ways of addressing them.
Expansion of Offshore Wind Energy in the United States: Safety and Insurance Cost Implications for Fisheries
Growing concerns about climate change and depletion of fossil fuel have encouraged pursuit of clean energy sources in the U.S. including current rapid expansion of offshore wind energy (OWE). However, OWE requires sharing ocean space with other uses such as commercial and recreational fisheries. As a result, the risk of accidents to operate fishing vessels is expected to increase due to increase vessel traffic, navigating longer routs to avoid wind turbines, gear entanglements, debris during the OWE development stage, and impairing effects of OWE noise on fishermen’s cognitive ability. Proper compensation needs to be made to overcome this spatial conflict. However, assessing the magnitude of the losses to fisheries require information, which can be obtained from experiences of European countries with OWE. This paper focuses on estimating the effects of coexistence of OWE and fishing activities on insurability and insurance premiums paid by the fishermen. For this purpose, using a panel data from the U.K., I employ the difference-in-difference statistical approach to estimate the effect of OWE on insurance premiums paid by fishermen.
Governance of fisher safety and welfare interventions in Kerala, South India
The fishing industry in India contributes to the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the national economy to the tune of Rs 212,915 crores (approx. US$ 28.3 billion) constituting 1.24% of the total national GVA (GOI, 2021). The maritime state Kerala contributes significantly to the marine fisheries sector in India in terms of production, assets and skilled manpower. The fishing fleets operating in the fishery in Kerala consists of 3800 mechanized, 13,868 motorized and 4016 non-motorized fishing crafts (CMFRI-FSI-DOF 2020). Fishing is by far the most hazardous occupation as fishers are prone to accidents, injuries and fatalities and therefore welfare interventions by the governance bodies are essential for fisher health. The fisheries department of the state carries out governance of the sector through its agencies, one of which is the Kerala Fishermen Welfare Fund Board (KFWFB). It works under Fund Act, 1985 providing for the constitution of welfare of Fishers in the State. The board organises interventions for safety of fishers in sea, the health and welfare of fishers and the insurance of active fishers in the state. The Group Insurance scheme is implemented and other scheme is for fishers against accidental death, heart attack (while fishing at sea), missing, permanent and partial disability. A compensation is granted for death/missing/total disability and partial disability. The beneficiary contribute an amount and Central Government and State Government contribute an equal share and an amount is given to beneficiary during the lean months. FIMS (Fishermen Information Management System) is a Web enabled work flow based system for monitoring fishermen welfare schemes and transfer the contribution / benefit to the fishers. The study analysed the existing regulatory frameworks, welfare interventions carried out by the fisheries governance bodes in Kerala towards protecting, health and safety of fishers in sea.
The state of fisheries insurance in the world: options for increasing access of small-scale fishers to insurance services
FAO estimates that some 450 000 fishing vessels worldwide are covered by marine hull insurance. Nearly all of the estimated 67 800 large-scale industrial fishing vessels are covered by marine hull insurance, as well as 50–60 percent of the estimated 430 000 semi-industrial fishing vessels. However, over 95 percent of the approximately 2.3 million motorized small-scale fishing vessels operate uninsured. Most small-scale fishers do not have access to adequate insurance services. Between 2009 and 2019 underwriting experiences in fishing vessel insurance were generally reported as “Good”. What is more, access to accident, life and health insurance services for crew on fishing vessels and small-scale fishers in developing countries has improved in recent years (Van Anrooy et al., 2022)[1].
This presentation will share the findings from the FAO World review of capture fisheries and aquaculture insurance 2022, as well as highlight recent developments in the fishing industry and options for increasing access of small-scale fishers to insurance services. The role of insurance services in the Blue Transformation of the fishing industry will be discussed, and how various barriers to development of successful fisheries insurance services could be lifted.
[1] Van Anrooy, R., Espinoza Córdova, F., Japp, D., Valderrama, D., Gopal Karmakar, K., Lengyel, P., Parappurathu, S., Upare, S., Tietze, U., Costelloe, T., & Zhang, Z. 2022. World review of capture fisheries and aquaculture insurance 2022. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 682. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9491en