On 17 June, the Europêche association welcomed the historic agreement between the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on fisheries subsidies.
“Despite India’s blocking pressures, which threatened to derail the multilateral agreement, WTO managed to sign a historic treaty to curb harmful fisheries subsidies”, according to Europêche. The organisation welcomes the introduction of fishing disciplines at global level, as was done in the EU in the early 2000s. The sector appreciates the WTO’s decision not to extend the scope of disciplines to cover non-specific fuel subsidies (see EUROPE 12974/2).
“In light of the geopolitical context created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the global energy crisis we are suffering, this was not the right moment to discuss this matter”, Europêche underlines.
However, the EU fleet considers the section referring to high seas fishing to be very negative, as it will cause serious damage to part of the EU fishing fleet operating in the South West Atlantic.
Moreover, due to the strong reluctance of India, which was demanding until the last minute a 25-year delay for the implementation of the agreement by developing countries, the WTO has eased up by announcing the setting up of a special fund. The fund, referred to in Article 7, would be worth $20 million and would provide technical assistance to these countries and help their fishermen to move towards more sustainable fishing. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)