Is the seafood industry uninsurable?

Australian Community Media

CSIRO scientist Dr Alistair Hobday discusses how climate threats are impacting fishers. Video via AAP

Transcript

00:00Some years the environment can make it very difficult to catch fish in the ocean, for example during a marine heat wave.

00:06Why is it that fishermen can't insure themselves against loss of fish catch, while on land farmers can insure themselves for loss of their crops?

00:13We were surprised to learn that you can insure food when it's produced on land, for example a storm destroying my crop.

00:20But then we were surprised to learn that in the ocean you can't insure not catching fish.

00:24So what type of insurance might work for fishermen?

00:26When you insure your house, you're using indemnity insurance and someone has to come and check how much of your house has been damaged.

00:33We propose using parametric insurance, which will be a payout determined on an environmental threshold.

00:39For example, when the temperatures become too hot to catch fish, you'll receive a payout based on that temperature.

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