"What fish can do for the WTO"

Organized by Kenya and co-hosted by Canada and Japan, the conference attracted more than 18,000 participants to discuss ways to take advantage of the potential of oceans, seas, lakes and rivers to improve living conditions inhabitants of developing countries. More than 3 billion people around the world depend on fishing for food, income and jobs.

The world has rallied to the enormous pressures facing our oceans and waters, from plastic pollution to the effects of climate change. The conference is part of the dynamics of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda to 2030, the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris and the 2017 US Oceanic Conference entitled "Call to Action ".

However, fisheries subsidies, some of which were introduced more than 50 years ago, have become a sore point in the capture, trade and consumption of fish in the oceans, which technically no one has.

Since 2001, world leaders have negotiated some forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing. Since 2001, negotiations are underway to eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Global fisheries subsidies are estimated at $ 20 billion a year.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on fisheries subsidies were launched in 2001 at the Doha Ministerial Conference, with the mandate to "clarify and improve" the existing disciplines of the WTO. the WTO on fisheries subsidies. This mandate was developed in 2005 at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, including a call for the banning of certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.

More recently, at the Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires 2017 (CM11), the ministers decided on a work program to conclude the negotiations. Their aim was to adopt an agreement on fisheries subsidies at the 2019 Ministerial Conference. The agreement is expected to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 on the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Paradox of fishing

Frictions on the negotiations include the need to include appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed country members of the negotiations. Although the goal is to end subsidies that deplete the natural capital of fish stocks, the rules on injurious subsidies must be defined in such a way as to provide a win-win situation for trade, the environment and development.

Stephen de Boer, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the WTO, said the agreement was not about preserving the credibility of the WTO, but about fighting the fish and taking up the development challenges.

"Canada is concerned that we do not have enough time to do that and more divergence," de Boer told IPS. "I'm afraid there's not enough concern about fish, but we spend too much time on the old positions and do not have the flexibility to come to an agreement. Negotiators must have discussions outside the WTO with the general public, from fishing communities to civil society, to put pressure on us. "

An agreement must be reached in December, Roberto Zapata Barradas, Chairman of the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules and the Ambassador of Mexico and Permanent Representative to the WTO, told IPS.

"I am satisfied with the level of commitment shown by delegates in Geneva," said Barradas. "There are still a lot of doubts and concerns about the outcome, but it 's about having a good process to break down these positions and try to find a common ground. agreement and areas of convergence. "

Zapata agrees that the time needed to concatenate an agreement is tight but that the 164 members of the WTO need to be creative in opening the necessary space in Geneva to reach an agreement.

Peter Nyongesa Wekesa, fisheries expert at the secretariat of the 79-member African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), said that there were good subsidies that reinforced a good resource management, thus allowing to spend money on research, stock assessment fisheries as buying up surplus vessels in the industry.

"Bad subsidies are the ones that allow you to spend money buying fuel, building new ships to keep fishing when you know that stocks are not in shape. These are useless because you are worse off for the same money you spend.

"We are looking at the complexity of countries but we do not want subsidies that support IUU fishing and contribute to overfishing. Fisheries are extremely important for the ACP countries for food, nutrition security, exports and employment. For some small island countries, fish exports account for 50% of their commodity trade. "

Save fish today for the future

Ernesto Fernandez, of the Pew Charitable Trust, said addressing fisheries issues was the single most important step that governments can take in 2019 to ensure the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on the trade in food. peach.

"Instead of saying what the WTO should do for fish, we could turn the tide and think about what fish can do for the WTO," Monge said.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the oceans contribute $ 1.5 billion a year to the global economy. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 60 million people work directly in the fisheries sector, often in small-scale operations in developing countries.

Global fish production in 2016 reached an unprecedented level of 171 million tonnes, of which 88% was for human consumption, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in a report on the world's fish. State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018. While the value of world fish exports in 2017 reached $ 152 billion, of which 54% came from developing countries.

2019, agree or disagree?

Should we reach Christmas 2019 without agreement, and then?

"I do not think about that possibility. I am fully focused on reaching an agreement, "Zapata told IPS