July 29, 2022 — The head of the World Trade Organization has asked member-states not to delay in implementing the recent WTO agreement limiting harmful fishery subsidies.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she wants members to urgently implement the deal within one year in order to protect ocean health.
July 8, 2022 — In studies that look at their global impact, fisheries subsidies that nations pay out to build up their capacity to catch fish are defined as “subsidies that encourage fishing capacity to develop to a point where resource exploitation exceeds the maximum sustainable yield, effectively resulting in the overexploitation of natural capital assets.”
China has spent billions on this type of subsidy – over $5 billion of the $35.5 billion in U.S. dollars spent on subsidies worldwide. The U.S. is also a major contributor to fisheries subsidies, but they are primarily beneficial – not capacity enhancing – subsidies, defined as “investments in the promotion of fishery resource conservation and management.” The US and Canada are unique in spending more on beneficial subsidies than capacity-enhancing subsidies.
But on June 17 the World Trade Organization (WTO) took a step toward leveling the playing field, introducing new rules intended to put a check on fisheries subsidies.
Conservation groups are divided on their appraisals of the new rules, with the Pew Charitable Trusts calling them a move in the right direction, and Oceana’s Andrew Sharpless lamenting the WTO’s work.
June 30, 2022 — It has taken more than 20 years, but government representatives at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva have finally agreed on a deal to curb the harmful subsidies that are compromising fish populations and damaging the marine environment.
It is the first time the WTO’s 164 members have made a deal with “environmental sustainability at its heart,” said the WTO director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in her closing speech. “This is also about the livelihoods of the 260 million people who depend directly or indirectly on marine fisheries,” she added.
The agreement bans subsidies for vessels and operators engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and puts curbs on funding that supports the exploitation of overfished stocks. It also prohibits subsidies for fishing on the high seas – areas beyond national waters – if operations fall outside the jurisdiction of a regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO).
Read the full story at The Maritime Executive
June 17, 2022 — The World Trade Organization agreed on the first change to global trading rules in years on Friday as well as a deal to boost the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in a series of pledges that were heavy on compromise.
The deals were forged in the early hours of the sixth day of a conference of more than 100 trade ministers that was seen as a test of the ability of nations to strike multilateral trade deals amid geopolitical tensions heightened by the Ukraine war.
The package, which the WTO chief called “unprecedented”, included the two highest profile deals under consideration – on fisheries and on a partial waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights for COVID-19 vaccines.
The accord to curb fishing subsidies is only the second multilateral agreement on global trading rules struck in the WTO’s 27-year history and is far more ambitious than the first, which was designed to cut red tape.
Read the full story from Reuters
November 19, 2021 — China has refused to endorse a U.S. demand for annual inspections of fleets for use of forced labor to be included in a World Trade Organization accord on curbing illegal fishing subsidies.
China said the WTO has no mandate for tackling the labor issue in the agreement. The topic of forced labor was introduced to the talks only recently by the U.S. delegation in response to increased emphasis on the issue in Washington D.C.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
July 20, 2021 — Following the passing of a 15 July deadline for World Trade Organization member-states to achieve an agreement on ending harmful fishing subsidies, the WTO head and The Pew Charitable Trusts are criticizing negotiators for failing to put aside national interests to strike a deal that would benefit the world’s oceans and marine life.
The world’s largest fishing nations are dodging their responsibilities, according to Isabel Jarrett, manager of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ project to end harmful fisheries subsidies.
July 16, 2021 — Trade ministers are meeting virtually at the World Trade Organization this week seeking agreement to eliminate fisheries subsidies that contribute to overfishing. The 2015 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals identified such an agreement as an urgent international priority. Amid a global fisheries crisis, many experts feel a successful agreement would be a “triple win” for trade, development and the environment.
The WTO originally planned to reach a fisheries pact by the end of 2020, but that deadline passed without agreement. Sharp divisions among countries and a lack of leadership have hampered negotiations.
Fisheries subsidies is one of the few active areas of multilateral negotiations within the WTO, and many experts see securing an agreement as a key test of the organization’s ability to deliver new global trade rules.
July 15, 2021 — World Trade Organization members are working to conclude negotiations that could stabilize wild fish populations—and help new Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala restore the WTO’s credibility.
The talks target government subsidies that the trade organization says help drive “illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing” that contributes to overfishing and the depletion of fish stocks. If the negotiations are successful, they would result in the first multilateral trade agreement for the 164-member group since 2013. Many say it would be the most significant pact since the WTO was established in 1995.
Member nations have been squabbling for years over how to stop overfishing. Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, who took office in March, is pressing them to compromise, and business and environmental groups are optimistic her approach will lead to a resolution.
“There is not going to be a better moment to deliver on this mandate,“ says Isabel Jarrett, a fisheries expert at Pew Charitable Trusts. “This is important to Dr. Ngozi to show that in her first year, she can deliver an outcome of global importance.”
Global annual fish consumption is expected to grow 16.3% between 2020 and 2029, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, pressuring wild fish populations.
July 13, 2021 — Hope for a deal on curbing harmful fishing subsidies has faded after the World Trade Organization pushed back its deadline for a deal until September 2021.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had set a deadline of 15 July for achieving an agreement, but that date will now a virtual meeting of ministers to “advance negotiations” on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies, according to a WTO notice.
July 12, 2021 — Daniel Voces, the managing director of the European Union’s primary fishing industry advocacy group, Europêche, believes members of the World Trade Organization will reach a deal on curbing illegal fishing subsidies this week.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has pleaded with negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland, to come to an agreement before the deadline for negotiations arrives on 15 July. Negotiators are currently considering a draft version of an accord, but differences remain due to sparring over exemptions for developing nations as well as fuel subsidy definitions and enforcement mechanisms.