Subsidies On Fisheries To Agriculture Dominates Third Day At World Trade Organization Conference

A total of 67 members participated during the fisheries thematic session, which was preceded by a move to introduce a ‘CHARA’ as a fisheries mechanism to help developing and less developed countries.

The text of the draft agreement spells out the elements against which developing and under-developed countries exploded. The main competition is on Article 3 on Subsidies Contributing to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, which stipulates that “any member may engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing or fishing related vessels or will not subsidize the operator or maintain activities in support of IUU fishing.”

The next major conflict is over Article 5 of the agreement, which deals with subsidies that contribute to greater capacity and fishing, as its sub-sections provide a void for the construction, acquisition, modernization, refurbishment or upgrade of ships, purchase of machines. Subsidy clauses. Equipment for ships (including fishing gear and engines, fish-processing machinery, fish-finding technology, refrigerators, or machinery to sort or clean fish), purchase/cost of fuel, ice or bait, personnel costs, social Fee, or insurance.

Countries such as India have also extended the entire draft agreement due to the presence of sub-clauses prohibiting subsidies in the form of income support to ship operators or workers employed by them, price support for caught fish, maritime support and damages to ships or fishing. vehemently opposed. activities.

They argue that subsidies such as income and livelihood support during seasonal fishing for the regeneration of fish stocks, and the provision of social safety nets for socially disadvantaged fishing communities, do not contribute to overfishing and instead They contribute in reducing the vulnerabilities of the poor fishing community.