The members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) today reached an agreement on prohibiting some fisheries subsidies however it fails the mandate according to civil society organisations from around the world.
Responding to the outcome from Ministers civil society groups have criticised what it will mean for developing countries, sustainability and small-scale fishers. Speaking following the conclusion of the Ministerial:
Adam Wolfenden, Campaigner, Pacific Network on Globalisation, campaigner@pang.org.fj
“This text fails to target those fishing fleets that are most responsible for the state of global fish stocks. It is an imbalanced text that places onerous burdens on developing countries while allowing the big fleets to continue being subsidised. This fails the Sustainable Development Goal mandate and is a bad outcome for sustainability and development”.
Ranja Sengupta, Senior Researcher at Third World Network, ranja@twnetwork.org
“Disciplines under Article 5, or subsidies related to overcapacity and overfishing (OCOF), are for now drastically eased whereby all Members need to remove subsidies only beyond areas of national jurisdiction. While this eases the burden on developing countries and grants them a temporary reprieve from having to cut OCOF subsidies, it also means that now developed countries will enjoy the same exemption and there is no Special and Differential Treatment. Future negotiations must impose disciplines on developed countries and bring back S&DT in Article 5.
Helene Bank, Chair, Norwegian Trade Campaign, helene.bank@velferdsstaten.no
“The UN asked the WTO to make rules on fisheries subsidies to avoid collapse in fish stocks as well as not violating fishing communities in developing countries. The WTO failed both.
The agreement that now is agreed overloads developing countries and small fishers in administration while big fleets from industrialised countries and China can continue subsidising their fishing, which is the real threat to fish stocks. It is a shame, but at the same time the WTO proves to the world, that it should revert to its basic role as a body that administers rules on cross border trade. Environmental, social and health issues must be dealt with in bodies that has the competence and expertise”.
Rahmat Maulana Sidik, Executive Director, Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), rmaulanasidik55@gmail.com
“The text on the issue of fishery subsidies at the WTO still does not really answer the problem of IUU fishing that occurs in developing countries, in fact the subsidies for it will still be maintained. In fact, there are many cases of IUU fishing carried out by large ships from developed countries using unsustainable fishing equipment. However, the big ships are still subsidised. Meanwhile, small fishermen in developing countries will be limited in their subsidies and will have to deal with large fishermen who have the ability to provide large subsidies, this is unfair, and the WTO has really failed to address this fundamental issue.”