Governments all over the world are propping up overfishing. Now scientists have penned an open letter calling on trade ministers to implement stricter regulations against harmful fisheries subsidies.
The World Trade Organization reached an agreement on fisheries subsidies, prohibiting member countries from funding illegal fishing and fishing of overexploited stocks at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva on June 17.
(Fabrice Coffrini/Pool Photo/Keystone via AP)
There is a need for nuanced discussions around the role of fisheries subsidies — even those that may be nominally harmful — to avoid further inequity and marginalization of small-scale fishers.
Industrial fishing trawlers stocking up on unsustainable quantities of fish.
(Shutterstock)
The WTO is set to wrap up negotiations on harmful fisheries subsidies This could help rebuild the oceans’ fish stocks, and support the communities that rely on them.
Italian fishers unload a fishing net aboard a trawler during a fishing trip in the Tyrrhenian Sea in April 2020. Fishing subsidies are resulting in serious overfishing.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Everyone who cares about marine biodiversity, fish, fishers, coastal communities and fishing industry workers of today and tomorrow must push for the end of fisheries subsidies.