Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Agriculture release joint note on fishing subsidies

See the joint note released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on fishing subsidies:

On July 15, Brazil participated in the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on fisheries subsidies to give political impetus to the negotiation of rules on government support to the maritime fisheries sector, in the preparatory framework for the XIIth WTO Ministerial Conference, next November.

The negotiations seek to meet Sustainable Development Goal 14.6: ban certain forms of fisheries subsidies that lead to overcapacity and overfishing; eliminate subsidies that encourage illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; and refrain from introducing new subsidies like these. In these negotiations, appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and under-developed countries must be recognized.

Subsidies are mainly responsible for the deterioration of fish stocks by stimulating capture at a pace and capacity far beyond what would be sustainable. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 1970, overfishing affected 10% of fish stocks. By 2017, this proportion had increased to 34%, with most of the remaining stock under threat of overexploitation.

The hefty subsidies to fishing at a global level pose risks to the sustainability and biodiversity of the oceans, to economic fishing activity, and to the food security of populations. They also cause an imbalance in the international fish trade.

At the ministerial meeting, Brazil reaffirmed its commitment to conclude the agreement and reiterated its proposal to effectively reduce the global amount of subsidies and eliminate the most harmful subsidies from an environmental point of view.

Brazil underscored the urgency of restricting subsidies and the importance of concluding the agreement to reinforce the WTO’s role in the debate on trade and sustainability and its contribution to the goals of COP-26 on climate change and COP-15 on biodiversity.

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