The effectiveness of fisheries subsidies as a trade policy tool to achieving sustainable development goals at the WTO

At the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Argentina, despite being steadfast in achieving an outcome on fisheries subsidies disciplines, member countries were unable to reach consensus on the matter. While members of the WTO have been advocating for sustainable management of fisheries resourc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine policy 2019-02, Vol.100, p.132-140
Main Authors: Kumar, Radika, Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh, Stauvermann, Peter Josef, Chakradhar, Jadhav
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASCM
Fisheries subsidies
Least developed countries
Limited entry technique
Oligopoly
Open access
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
UNCLOS
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Summary:At the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Argentina, despite being steadfast in achieving an outcome on fisheries subsidies disciplines, member countries were unable to reach consensus on the matter. While members of the WTO have been advocating for sustainable management of fisheries resources and advocating the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6, some developing countries were concerned about its impact on low income and poorly resourced fishers, who are surviving because of the subsidies under the discipline. This study provides possible implications of the fisheries subsidies as a trade policy tool for market access and its effectiveness in achieving the overall sustainable development goals. To examine the effectiveness of subsidies in fisheries negotiations, the study focuses on the global supply and demand side of the fisheries resources from the perspective of the fish resource holders and the fishing resource capacity. The analysis considers budgetary support in fisheries, the vessel capacity (tonnage), the fish development technologies and the total marine catch processing, to indicate the demand for extraction of the fish resources. The supply of the fish resources is determined by the regions with major fishing areas and the licenses issued for fishing. Using both the market demand and supply for fisheries resource extraction, the study examines the effectiveness of subsidies as a trade policy tool to attain the overall sustainable development goals. Based on the analysis, certain policy strategies follows, which are important for countries to consider before the elimination of fisheries subsidies at the WTO.
ISSN:0308-597X
1872-9460
DOI:10.1016/j.marpol.2018.11.034