January 25, 2019 — Negotiations amongst World Trade Organization member nations over the elimination of fisheries subsidies have intensified, according to a WTO announcement made at the tail end of 2018. WTO member states face a mandate of achieving an agreement by the end of 2019, in time to announce the agreement at the 2020 Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan.
One of the linchpins of any deal will be China, the world’s biggest fishing country by volume. Thus far, China has shown a willingness to negotiate, even making concessions to limit the country’s international fishing fleet to its 2016 level and to reduce fuel subsidies for its trawlers by 40 percent on 2015 levels.
But China’s cut to trawler subsidies only applies only to those vessels engaged in fishing within China’s own waters – not abroad. And broadly, China’s general alignment with the agreement stands in stark contrast to its continued efforts to build giant processing and distribution hubs for its distant-water catches.
Chinese Vice Minister for Agriculture Qu Dong Yu, who was in Argentina for the last WTO Ministerial Conference in 2017, appears to be straddling both sides of the issue. While he negotiated the concessions on fishery subsidies (though a larger agreement was not reached due to objections from India and China over the scale and timing of subsidy cuts), he also appears to support China’s distant-water fishing efforts. While he was in Argentina, he showed support for the industry by touring vessels owned by Shanghai Fisheries Group, Dalian Hua Feng and the well-known fishing and seafood distribution conglomerate Zhejiang Da Yang Shi Jia (Ocean Family). The vessels included red shrimp catch-processors and squid liners.