Subsidies can help supplement income for fishers or lower costs to promote fishing by industrial and small-scale operators. But subsidies often promote unsustainable fishing, namely when the payments allow fishers to travel farther, stay at sea longer or have greater capacity than they would have otherwise. In fact, a 2018 study in the journal Science Advances showed that without current government subsidies, more than half of high seas fisheries wouldn’t be profitable.
Today, one third of the world’s assessed fisheries are being pushed beyond their biological limits. Further, a separate study found that over half of fisheries subsidies across the globe could incentivize overfishing in the absence of effective management. Governments across the globe pay about $22 billion a year in damaging types of fisheries subsidies, primarily to industrial fishers, to offset costs such as fuel, gear and vessel construction.
In June 2022, after 21 years of on-and-off discussions and negotiations, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted a fisheries subsidies agreement. While this is a historic step towards tackling overfishing, countries need to ratify the agreement swiftly for these reforms to take effect, and for members to fulfil their commitment to address outstanding issues related to overfishing and overcapacity.
The Pew Charitable Trusts is working with WTO members, scientists and other stakeholders to advocate for urgent ratification and implementation of the agreement, as well as to support continued negotiations on outstanding issues to substantially reduce those subsidies that are harmful to fisheries.
Stemming the flow of harmful fisheries subsidies would reduce pressure on fish stocks, improve ocean health and protect future livelihoods in coastal communities.
5 Rules Strengthen WTO Deal to End Harmful Fisheries Subsides
After adopting a landmark agreement in June 2022 to curtail harmful fisheries subsidies, the World Trade Organization (WTO) now must finish the job by ensuring that the deal is ratified and completing the negotiations on key unresolved issues not addressed in the 2022 agreement.
Fisheries Subsidies Agreement: What's the Big Deal?
The World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted a long-awaited fisheries subsidies agreement in June of 2022 at the close of its 12th Ministerial Conference. The agreement, a historic step towards ensuring the ocean’s sustainability, will tackle one of the key drivers of overfishing by curtailing harmful subsidies—payments made by nations to commercial fishing operators to keep those businesses profitable.
WTO Members Must Ratify Fisheries Subsidies Deal
An agreement secured last year that could help end overfishing around the world is awaiting completion within the World Trade Organization, and WTO members should act quickly to ratify and improve that deal. The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which the WTO adopted in June 2022, prohibits subsidies that enable illegal fishing, fishing of overfished stocks and fishing of unmanaged stocks on the high seas.
WTO Needs to Redouble Its Effort on Fishing Subsidies
Last month, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) tried to advance further rules to strengthen the existing Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. That agreement, adopted by WTO members in June 2022 and still awaiting final ratification, prohibits subsidies that enable illegal fishing, fishing of overfished stocks and fishing of unmanaged stocks on the high seas.
Agreement Curbing Fisheries Subsidies Awaits Ratification
This month marks the first anniversary of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) historic Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. The treaty, adopted at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference, established the first global, legally binding framework that limits subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and fishing of overfished stocks, as well as subsidies to vessels fishing on the unregulated high seas.
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