WTO deal is within reach to remove harmful fishing subsidies and halt global fish meltdown

WTO deal is within reach to remove harmful fishing subsidies and halt global fish meltdown

Every year, governments around the world pump $22 billion of public money into efforts that encourage overfishing.

SDG 14 has explicit target to eliminate such harmful fisheries subsidies by 2020 through the conclusion of WTO negotiations that began 20 years ago.

Under its new Director General, the WTO is within reach of a deal that will bring immense benefit for ocean life of both the human and aquatic kinds.



If you happened to pass by the World Trade Organization's Swiss headquarters last week in Geneva, you'd have encountered something a little out of the ordinary: a large ice sculpture, in the shape of a shoal of fish, melting onto the ground. The accompanying message? Stop the fish meltdown. But what does that mean?

When I first began as an ocean campaigner in the early 2000s, I remember hearing then about the global negotiations to end fisheries subsidies deemed "harmful“ - those that go towards increasing overfishing - which had dragged on already for several years. And I remember thinking, even then, that it was the quintessential no-brainer for advancing environmental conservation.



These harmful fisheries subsidies are used to build ever bigger industrial vessels and pay for fuel, so these