July 16, 2012 — The Future we Want, the final document from the Rio+20 summit, has quite a lot to say about fishing subsidies. Some see this as a little-noticed success from the disappointing gathering.
World leaders agreed to "eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and overcapacity", and to prohibit "fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing".
The trouble is that this was essentially reaffirming commitments made in Johannesburg 10 years ago and subsequently snarled in World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.
Fish is a vital food source and fishing provides employment all over the world. That's why governments stump up money to put boats on the water. Unfortunately, too many boats result in the overfishing that The Future we Want refers to.
As much as 85% of the world's fisheries are estimated either at or over a sustainable limit. And the $35bn (£22.5bn) or so a year that countries spend supporting their fishing fleets has helped to reach that parlous state. Ultimately this is self-defeating, as overfishing eventually leads to lower catches, potentially irreversible declines in stocks and larger financial losses requiring even greater subsidies.
Read the full story in the Guardian