December 30, 2020 — There are very different and contradictory ambitions motivating the key players in the current World Trade Organization negotiations on a deal that would end harmful fisheries subsidies.
Those differences will have to be squared before any deal emerges out of the talks, which have been held over more than 20 years, and which are set to resume on 18 January, 2021.
December 11, 2020 — The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has published its annual report on global fisheries, outlining how governments are addressing the key challenges faced by their fishing sectors and suggesting priorities for action at the national and international level.
The OECD Review of Fisheries 2020, published 10 December, is based on an in-depth analysis of the latest data reported by OECD countries and partner economies. A major finding of the review is that some current fisheries policies are continuing to contribute towards the overexploitation of stocks. As a result, progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has slipped. The goal’s objective of restoring all fish stocks “at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics” by the end of 2020, has not been reached at a global level, largely due to lack of progress on policy reforms.
November 23, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:
The Marine Stewardship Council – an environmental not-for-profit whose mission is to end overfishing – has joined calls for the World Trade Organisation to abolish harmful fishing subsidies and to deliver the UN target which calls for their elimination by 2020.
More than $22 billion of harmful ‘capacity building’ fishing subsidies contribute to overfishing, and lead to the loss of livelihoods and income for coastal communities. They have also been linked to Illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing activity. [1]
Harmful fishing subsidies are incompatible with and undermine the MSC’s vision of healthy and productive marine ecosystems with seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on fishing subsidies began nearly two decades ago at the 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha. Since then overfished stocks have increased from 27% to 34%, in part enabled by harmful subsidies. [2]
In 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 nations and the WTO was tasked with the implementation of SDG 14.6. This specific target calls for the establishment by 2020 of a mechanism to eliminate subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, including illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing.
As the end of 2020 approaches, the MSC adds its voice to calls made by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for the Oceans and Co-Chair of Friends for Ocean Action, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Environmental Justice Foundation, WWF International and more than 170 civil society organisations to urge WTO delegates to deliver on this mandate and not to postpone their decision.
The MSC’s Chief Executive, Rupert Howes said, “Humanity is at a crossroads. Urgent and ambitious action is required now. As the world emerges from the global Covid pandemic progress must be made to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The ending of harmful fishing subsidies will benefit the oceans, fishers and their communities and consumers. It will also release much needed funding to support sustainable fishing and the delivery of the remaining ocean-related targets in the SDGs, if redirected appropriately. We hope that the WTO will seize this enormous opportunity before them.”
July 8, 2019 — As the World Trade Organisation confronts a deadline this year to reach an agreement to eliminate subsidies that are decimating global fish populations, perhaps no nation faces higher stakes than China.
China operates the planet’s largest fishing fleet, catches the most seafood and hands out the most money in fuel subsidies and other support that enables industrial trawlers to travel to the furthest reaches of the ocean. As a result of the expansion of global fishing fleets to meet rising demand, 33% of fish populations are being harvested at biologically unsustainable levels while 90% are fully exploited, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Researchers in 2016 pegged total annual fishing subsidies at US$35 billion (in 2009 dollars). They categorised US$20 billion of those incentives as harmful with as much as 85% of that money going to industrial fishing operations. A 2018 study found that in the absence of US$4.2 billion in subsidies, more than half of high seas fishing would be unprofitable. Furthermore, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Spain account for 80% of fishing outside territorial waters. Researchers estimate that China alone was responsible for 21% of high seas fishing in 2014 and nearly 19% of global fish catch averaged between 2014 and 2016.
In 2001, the WTO formally recognised the need to reform fishing subsidies and member nations four years later called for the abolition of incentives that contribute to overfishing. Negotiations languished for a decade but took on new urgency in 2015 after the UN adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Among them was SDG 14.6, which calls for the prohibition by 2020 of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity, overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Still, WTO’s last biennial meeting in December 2017 ended without an agreement on fishing subsidies. However, the 164 WTO member states, which must approve decisions by consensus, did agree to redouble efforts to reach an agreement by the end of 2019.
This year, negotiators have been meeting monthly at WTO headquarters in Geneva to try to break the stalemate. An agreement to ban fishing subsidies would have a profound impact on ocean health and national economies. Unlike other international agreements, such as the Paris accord on climate change, WTO actions are binding and carry the weight of law.
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