The world's oceans are overfished, but states still encourage the expansion of their fleets with harmful subsidies.
That should be stopped.
In rich countries, consumers should also do something.
Geneva - After 20 years of negotiations, the final course is to be laid today for an international agreement to end harmful fishing subsidies.
This is intended to protect the overfished oceans.
Otherwise there is a risk of collapse of the fish stocks, which are a vital source of protein for billions of people.
Consumers in rich countries should also regard fish as a delicacy and eat less, urge environmentalists.
Trade ministers of the 164 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meet live online, not with video messages.
WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala hopes for a decisive rapprochement.
The agreement is due to be signed at the ministerial meeting in Geneva in December.
It would be only the second multilateral agreement in the 26-year history of the WTO after the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which came into force in 2017.
"It would be an important sign if the WTO could show with a fisheries agreement that its negotiating arm is still working," said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Berlin of the German Press Agency.
Illegal fishing fuels overfishing
According to the World Food Organization (FAO), more than a third of the world's fish stocks are overexploited. One of the reasons for this is subsidies, for example for fuel, which keep otherwise unprofitable fishing fleets alive. "Above all, illegal, unregulated and unregistered fishing and the subsidized expansion of fleets in many countries are fueling overfishing," said the spokeswoman. Anything that contributes to capacity expansion or illegal fishing should be stopped, albeit with numerous exceptions, for example for small fishermen, especially in developing countries, who earn their livelihood with it.
By far the largest fishing fleet in the world has China, which has the status of a developing country in the WTO. The EU demands that China waive all special rules that it can theoretically use as a result. It is eagerly awaited whether China will agree to this today. The Chinese WTO embassy in Geneva kept their cards low before the meeting.
The EU demand to allow subsidies if something is done to stabilize fish stocks is also seen as a harmful loophole. The crux of the matter is that this should apply regardless of whether the measures are having an effect, says the fisheries expert from the environmental foundation WWF, Anna Holl: “That would fix the status quo, then the EU should continue to grant harmful subsidies. It doesn't help if a bloc like the EU, which is committed to climate, environmental and marine protection, promotes such exceptions. ”Dpa
