The Second Wave of the Fisheries Subsidies Negotiations: Overcapacity, Overfishing, and Other Disciplines

Abstract

The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) was concluded by the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in June 2022. It was negotiated following the mandate contained in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. In the AFS, WTO Members were able to agree on subsidy prohibitions relating to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, overfished stocks and unregulated waters. However, the AFS fails to address part of the SDG 14.6 mandate concerning subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing. For this reason, WTO Members have, shortly after the conclusion of the AFS, engaged in a second wave of negotiations to address the missing elements in SDG 14.6, as well as other provisions left out of the AFS. At the time of writing, the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules has produced a draft text containing the proposals of Members on overcapacity and overfishing, including a sustainability carve-out and special and differential treatment for developing countries. In addition, this text includes a subsidy prohibition with respect to subsidies contingent upon or tied to fishing and fishing related activities in waters outside the subsidizing Member’s jurisdiction and a notification obligation concerning the use of forced labour. The challenge is, therefore, to produce a text that is agreeable to both the representatives of Members sitting at the WTO Ministerial Conference and the stakeholders of each WTO Member who will decide, domestically, whether to ratify the agreement. fisheries subsidies, IUU fishing, overfished stocks, overcapacity, overfishing, forced labour, waters outside the jurisdiction