Eliminating harmful fisheries subsidies: a Low Hanging Fish on the WTO agenda

27 September 2017

SDG 14 revived the subsidies discussions at the WTO

The Ocean Sustainable Development Goal #14.6 explicitly calls on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to “By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation”. The WTO is taking this worthy mission at heart and delegates are working hard to find an agreement in the run up to the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11), which is to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from Dec. 10 to 13 2017.

Seven proposals have been tabled by groups of member States. BLOOM and The Varda Group, with which we collaborate in a joint effort to reach a legally-binding decision on harmful subsidies, have analyzed the proposals.

> Download our review of subsidies proposals here “THE LOW HANGING FISH”

Fisheries Subsidies session during the WTO Public Forum

During the WTO Public Forum held at the WTO Headquarters in Geneva (26-28 Sept. 2017), BLOOM and The Varda Group organized a session on public subsidies in collaboration with our partner the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). Our review of proposals was released on that occasion. Several diplomats honored us with their presence.

Program of our « Low Hanging Fish » session on Sept. 26th at the WTO:

> Click here to download THE PRESENTATIONS OF SPEAKERS

Handover of « The Low Hanging Fish » review to WTO Director General Roberto Azevêdo

On Sept. 26th, DG Roberto Azevêdo welcomed the official release of our review of proposals after the opening session of the WTO Public Forum.
We share hopes that MC11 will be a tipping point for a fruitful agreement to the benefit of the ocean, fishers and all nations alike.

A background briefing on fisheries subsidies

As soon as May 2017, BLOOM and the Varda Group had put together a general briefing on fisheries subsidies in order to share common understanding and expertise on published economic and environmental data.

> Click here to download our briefing “TIME TO GET THE MATH RIGHT”

If you have an enquiry or wish to sign up to our Fisheries Subsidies Newsletter,
contact us here: thelowhangingfish ((at)) bloomassociation.org