Deal to curb billions in overfishing subsidies comes into force at WTO

Figure 1: A box filled with blackbelly rosefish is seen before being auctioned at Burela's port, Galicia, Spain

GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters). According to the World Trade Organization, a historic deal to stop billions of dollars in overfishing subsidies went into effect on Monday. Protesters welcomed the action as a start toward assisting the recovery of fish populations throughout the world.
Following years of delayed discussions and internal strife, as well as more recently, a spike in U.S. tariffs that left some detractors questioning the Geneva-based organization's viability, it was the first WTO accord to go into force since 2017.

Figure 2: An ice sculpture of Finley the Fish melts on World Ocean Day in front of the United Nations ahead of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12), where a deal to end harmful fisheries subsidies could be reached, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 8, 2022

The formal ratification by Brazil, Kenya, Tonga and Vietnam on Monday meant the deal, first agreed in 2022, now had the required support of two thirds of members, a WTO spokesperson said.

Governments are now prohibited from providing subsidies for overfished stocks and for fishing in international waters beyond their jurisdictions. Poorer states will be able to access a fund to help ease them into the deal.

"Fish stocks around the world will have a chance to recover, benefitting local fishers who depend on a healthy ocean," Megan Jungwiwattanaporn from the Pew Charitable Trusts said.

Governments around the world pay out roughly $35.4 billion annually to their fishing fleets, including fuel handouts that allow them to fish in distant oceans, a 2019 study in Marine Policy showed. It listed the top five subsidisers as China, the EU, the United States, South Korea and Japan - though not all of them are within the scope of the WTO deal.

Negotiations on further fishing rules covering divisive issues excluded from the first deal have floudered, as India and other developing economies seek carve-outs that many other states see as unworkable.

The first part of the agreement that came into force on Monday took more than 20 years of negotiations and will expire in four years if more comprehensive rules are not agreed.

Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in an interview earlier this month that she saw grounds for optimism that the body could either conclude the talks or find a way to stop the first deal from expiring.

References: Emma Farge - Reuters