WWF to WTO: Time to make it count
Discussions about the “urgency” of ending harmful fisheries subsidies have been ongoing for nearly 20 years. Now it’s time to fish or cut bait.
By John Tanzer, WWF Global Ocean Lead
WWF, peer organizations, economists and scientists have built a compelling body of evidence on the negative impacts of many fisheries subsidies. They are bad for fish populations, ocean health and coastal communities. And still, the WTO has consistently failed to deliver reform even against its own deadlines, including the commitment under SDG 14 Target 6 to reach an agreement to end harmful subsidies by 2020.
Now, under the new WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, there is renewed hope. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has made the fisheries subsidies negotiations one of her top priorities and will host a ministerial meeting on 15 July to push for an agreement.
WWF and partners are doing all we can to support a successful conclusion of these negotiations — and then real action to heal the harms caused by decades of detrimental subsidies. The WTO cannot miss this chance, which is why we are concerned that some WTO members are pushing for exemptions that risk undermining the potential for success: real impact on the water.
With so much on the line, WWF offers WTO members five principles for success. Twenty years in the making, this reflects the hard-earned wisdom of many partners who know we can do better for both people and nature.
1. Talk is cheap. WTO members who have committed to ending harmful fisheries subsidies have shown they can talk the talk. Now it’s time to walk the walk. We are emptying our ocean, and no short-term gains will offset the long-term harm caused by today’s reckless practices. Equally, talking a good game about reducing carbon emissions while continuing to support widespread fuel subsidies, in particular for industrial distant-water fleets, is incompatible.
2. Level the playing field. Harmful subsidies encourage fishing beyond profitable and sustainable levels in coastal waters and on the high seas, degrading the very resources on which coastal communities and ocean resilience depend. They hollow out the foundation of the industry they set out to support. The focus of an agreement should not be securing broad exemptions for subsidies that continue to fuel the vicious cycle of overfishing, but on building the economic resilience of coastal communities.
3. Stop “fueling” overfishing. Fuel subsidies, including fuel tax exemptions, are widely recognized as one of the most harmful drivers of industrial overfishing. They allow too many boats to travel too far for too few fish. WTO members must stop pushing for the exclusion of non-specific fuel subsidies and instead support a clear prohibition of all subsidies contributing to overcapacity, overfishing and greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, governments must redirect investment toward improving the well-being of fishers and fishing communities, not the activity of fishing.
4. Play fair. 90 percent of fishers worldwide come from developing countries, working primarily in the small-scale fishing sector. The environmental harm caused by subsidized overfishing is an existential threat to their livelihoods and well-being. Subsidies might be justified as a helping hand to those of lesser means, but the evidence tells a different story. Of an estimated US$35.4 billion in annual global fisheries subsidies, US$22.2 billion goes to “capacity-enhancing” — building ever larger industrial fleets, with China, the European Union, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan leading the pack. Consider the foreign, distant-water fleets hauling in full nets off the coast of West Africa, while local fishing communities battle poverty and food scarcity. The WTO must not abide by a policy that favours the wealthy to the detriment of the poor. An agreement must include strong provisions to ensure transparency and accountability, as well as technical assistance for least-developed countries.
5. Make it count. A deal is possible, but it must be the right deal — one that is comprehensive and without significant loopholes — to deliver on the SDG mandate. Anything less would miss this generational opportunity to replot the course of global fishing fleets toward sustainability and, in the process, improve ocean health and help ensure that our ocean will continue to provide for the many millions who depend on it, now and into the future.
