BLOG: WTO-MC13 - Ahead of World Trade Ministerial, Pacific nations continue call to end harmful fishing subsidies.

Suva, 21 Feb 2024 — Ahead of the high level World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, Pacific Island countries are continuing their call for big fishing subsidisers to lower harmful subsidies leading to overcapacity and overfishing.

At the Ministerial Conference 13 (MC13) from 26-29 February 2024, members hope to reach an agreement that signals the end to such harmful subsidies to overcapacity and overfishing.

“We really need the big subsidisers to meet the SDG mandate in trade negotiations,” says Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica. “They have committed to cut harmful subsidies to overcapacity and overfishing, and they should carry out this commitment at MC13”.

WTO members have been in this latest phase of talks since an agreement was struck in 2022 aimed at tackling subsidies to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This second phase of the agreement aims to continue where negotiators left off, curbing harmful subsidies to overcapacity and overfishing.

An end to subsidies would help Pacific Island nations build their own fleets and tackle the destructive environmental practices which have depleted the world’s stocks in recent years.

Sustainable Development Goal number 14.6 – now long overdue — was to “prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing” with appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries.

Overcapacity, where fleets are too big and catch too many fish, creates a situation where fishing capacity exceeds the level required to fish sustainably, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

Overfishing is where too many fish are being caught for the stock’s size and reproduction rate, so that management objectives cannot be achieved or maintained sustainably.

The UNFAO and the World Bank say that 90% of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited or over-exploited. At least a tenth of the world’s fisheries are in a critical state.

According to various sources around US$20 billion in harmful subsidies a year by the world’s largest distant water fishing nations allows them to travel further, stay longer at sea and exploit stocks, fuelling overcapacity and overfishing. The biggest fleets have for decades existed on multi-billion-dollar government handouts which allow them to over-exploit the world’s oceans and deplete fish stocks.

The same studies estimate that together the top seven subsidisers account for around three-quarters of the world’s harmful subsidies. The irony is that much of the world’s fishing would not be possible without subsidies – yet it is this overfishing that is so damaging to the Ocean.

“At the very least, the largest subsidisers should agree to freeze harmful subsidies at current levels,” says Kamicamika. “The majority of subsidies come from a handful of big countries. Agreeing now not to raise levels any higher would at least signal that they are serious about starting to tackle the problem of overfishing.”

Without cuts from the largest subsidisers, Pacific fleets will continue to compete on an unfair playing field because they can’t afford such massive government assistance.

Ending or freezing subsidies would allow smaller nations such as those in the Pacific to build their own fleets. Local, low-subsidy fleets that had to travel shorter distances would be more efficient and better for the environment.

For the Pacific, the talks are critical.

Half of the world’s tuna comes from the Western and Central Pacific. Coastal fisheries provide between half and 90% of animal protein and nutrients for Pacific Islanders, according to the UNFAO, and contribute on average about half of cash flowing into all Pacific households.

In some countries such as Fiji where it comprises 10 percent of the total, fish is a major export. The fishing industry is also one of the largest private sector employers in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. 

[ENDS]