The WTO Agreement on Fisheries : Is it fin-ally O-fish-ial?
What is the Agreement on Fisheries?
After two long decades of constant negotiations, concessions, and back and forths between Member States, in June 2022, the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its 12th Ministerial Conference agreed to adopt the “Agreement on Fisheries” (“the Agreement”). The core purpose of this agreement is the prevention of harmful fishery subsidies which have led to the global depletion of fish.[1] It aims to achieve this by implementing prohibitions on maintaining fishery subsidies to:
1. Vessels engaged in illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing or fishing related activities;
2. Fishing or fishing related activities concerning fish that are being overfished; and
3. Fishing activities on the high seas.[2]
In addition, recognising that the implementation of this Agreement may be challenging for many Developing and Least Developed countries, the Agreement has established a fund to “provide technical assistance and capacity building to help them implement the Agreement”.[3] Article 7 of the Agreement, which creates this fund, specifies that this shall be created in collaboration with other relevant international organisations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.[4] However, it also contains the caveat that “contributions of WTO Members to the mechanism shall be exclusively on a voluntary basis and shall not utilise regular budget resources”.[5] With this caveat in mind, it is difficult to envision how useful this fund will truly be in aiding Developing and Least Developed countries with the implementation process.
Nonetheless, the current Director-General of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, believes that “[the] activation of the Fund should provide momentum for efforts to secure the Agreement's entry into force as well as the “second wave” of negotiations on further rules for subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing”.[6] If more developed WTO members truly were to make donations to this fund, it would be an incentive for their lesser-developed counterparts to follow suit and accede to the implementation of the Agreement.
Why is this fund needed?
For many developing coastal countries, fisheries stand as one of the most important sources for protein and livelihoods.[7] As such, it is crucial for these countries that are so dependent on fisheries as a source of income for their populations that the development of a sustainable blue economy comes to fruition.[8]
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), fishing subsidies have reached approximately $35 billion, of which $20 billion directly contributes to overfishing.[9] By maintaining these subsidies, taxpayers are essentially paying industrial commercial boats and fleets to “degrade the environment and to destroy the food security and livelihoods of vulnerable coastal communities.”[10] Further, these subsidies are fostering unfair competition between large commercial fleets and individual artisanal fishermen who do not have the resources to actively compete in the market.[11]
After having submitted the draft Agreement for the Ministers’ attention and consensus last year, the chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, can be quoted as saying:
Why is it historic?
The conclusion of this Agreement stands as one of the most historic accomplishments[13] for the WTO in the 21st century. At present it is:
1. The first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target to be fully met at the WTO;
2. The first SDG target to be achieved through the conclusion of a multilateral agreement;
3. The first WTO Agreement concluded with its core focus on the environment;
4. The first broad binding, multilateral agreement on ocean sustainability; and
5. The second Agreement concluded at the WTO since its creation.[14]
Countries that have signed on to date
Despite having a membership that consists of 164 member states[15] and 25 observer governments[16], to date, only two countries have deposited their instruments of formal acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
On January 20th 2023, Switzerland became the first WTO Member to formally accept the new agreement. Then, most recently on February 10th of this year (2023), Singapore submitted its formal acceptance; marking it as the second WTO member and the first coastal state to do so.[18] Speaking of the Agreement and Singapore’s ascension, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong, said:
Nevertheless, in order for the Agreement to fully materialise as Minister Gan Kim Yong hopes, two-thirds of WTO members must formally accept the Protocol of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies [20]
Is the Agreement everything it claims to be?
Despite how advantageous the Agreement appears to be on its face, it is not without its faults. Critics of the Agreement have found that there are “big holes” within it, including practical problems with enforcement that would result in it having an overall negligible effect on solving its key issue: overfishing.[21]
Daniel Skerritt, an analyst at Oceana (an observer organisation at the Geneva meeting) criticised the Agreement for containing “too many carve-outs for developed nations”.[22] In his opinion, the Agreement contains too many holes that would allow these developed nations to get around the prohibition and continue implementing their subsidies.[23]
Moreover, BLOOM (an NGO “determined to fight the destruction of the ocean and livelihoods”[24]) founder Claire Nouvian has found that while the Agreement does provide a framework, it fails to provide any monitoring mechanism.[25] A monitoring mechanism would ensure that acceding States comply with the provisions of the Agreement and those that fail to would face consequences for their inaction.
Conclusion
The Agreement on Fisheries sets out to achieve an admirable goal. Fishing subsidies continue to have a harmful impact, especially on coastal Developing and Least Developed countries. Thus, having a formalised Agreement prohibiting these detrimental subsidies is crucial for progress to be made. However, a number of oceanic activists still remain sceptical as to whether the Agreement will truly have an impact in combating the world’s overfishing problem and unless more countries render their formal ascension to it, the Agreement may remain an unrealized goal of the WTO. Yet, despite its flaws, the Agreement may still be a step in the right direction as it constitutes formal acknowledgement that overfishing is a harmful problem and attempts (though how successfully is currently unknown) to rectify this.
[1] “Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[2] “Fact Sheet: WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (United States Trade Representative) <https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2022/august/fact-sheet-wto-agreement-fisheries-subsidies > accessed February 2023
[3] “Switzerland Is First WTO Member to Formally Accept New Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news23_e/fish_20jan23_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[4] (Draft) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies <https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/WT/MIN22/W20.pdf&Open=True >
[5] ibid
[6] “WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism Now Operational to Assist Developing Countries and Ldcs” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news22_e/fish_08nov22_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[7] “Regulating Fisheries Subsidies” (UNCTADMarch 28, 2022) <https://unctad.org/project/regulating-fisheries-subsidies > accessed February 2023
[8] “Implementing the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: Challenges and Opportunities for Developing and Least-Developed Country Members” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/impfishag_part_1_e.pdf > accessed February 2023
[9] “Regulating Fisheries Subsidies” (UNCTADMarch 28, 2022) <https://unctad.org/project/regulating-fisheries-subsidies > accessed February 2023
[10] ibid
[11] ibid
[12] “Draft Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies Submitted for Ministers' Attention Ahead of MC12” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/fish_25nov21_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[13] “Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[14] ibid
[15] “WTO Members and Observers” (WTO ) <https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[16] ibid
[17] “Switzerland Is First WTO Member to Formally Accept New Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news23_e/fish_20jan23_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[18] “Singapore Submits Formal Acceptance of Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news23_e/fish_10feb23_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[19] ibid
[20] “Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” (WTO) <https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_e.htm > accessed February 2023
[21] McVeigh K, “First WTO Deal on Fishing Subsidies Hailed as Historic despite 'Big Holes'” (The GuardianJune 21, 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/21/first-wto-deal-on-fishing-subsidies-hailed-as-historic-despite-big-holes > accessed February 2023
[22] ibid
[23] ibid
[24] “Determined to Fight the Destruction of the Ocean and Livelihoods” (Bloom Association ) <https://www.bloomassociation.org/en/about-us/our-mission/ > accessed February 2023
[25] France 24, “WTO Fishing Deal Hailed as Historic Though 'Not Perfect'” (France 24June 17, 2022) <https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220617-wto-fishing-deal-hailed-as-historic-though-not-perfect > accessed February 2023
