March 24, 2022 — The WTO has rescheduled its 12th Ministerial Conference for the week of 13 June, 2022, with a deal to limit fishery subsidies a key item on the agenda.
It comes as China has upped its subsidies to the country’s biggest state-owned tuna fishing firms while Greenpeace has sounded the alarm at the increased threat to marine biodiversity from growing distant-water fleets.
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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.
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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.
July 8, 2021 — The World Trade Organization hosts talks next week aimed at reaching a deal to cap subsidies that contribute to the overfishing of the world’s seas and oceans.
Prospects for a breakthrough appear dim. WTO delegates have been negotiating for 20 years and only last December agreed on the definition of “fish”.
The WTO’s new director general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said a deal is a top priority but she has also expressed doubts about a July conclusion.
June 16, 2021 — The United States and the European Union have resolved a trade dispute that had resulted in a ramping up of tariffs, including on some seafood products.
The quarrel, dating back to 2004, centered around subsidies for European airplane-maker Airbus and U.S. plane manufacturer Boeing. The dispute was brought before the World Trade Organization, which ruled in October 2020 that each side could impose billions of dollars in tariffs.
May 27, 2021 — The U.S. asked the World Trade Organization’s members to address the problem of forced labor on fishing vessels, seeking the issue to form part of ongoing talks to curb subsidies in the industry.
The U.S. proposal also calls for WTO members’ explicit recognition of the forced-labor problem and proposes additional transparency with respect to those vessels or operators that use forced labor, the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement Wednesday.
“Forced labor harms the lives and well-being of fishers and workers around the world and it must be eliminated,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in the statement.
Global leaders in 2015 tasked the WTO with ending excessive and illegal fishing through eliminating government subsidies that spur companies to deplete the world’s fish stocks and threaten coastal economies. Negotiators have failed to reach an agreement.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has made the issue her top priority, and plans a July conference that could help seal an international accord.