Read for 4 minutes GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) – Negotiators are hopeful that on Thursday, the World Trade Organization will not only inflict a major blow to overfishing after 20 years of trying, but also remove misgivings about the organization’s own utility. Showcase ( 5 images ) The global trade watchdog has not sealed a significant trade pact in years, and analysts believe it needs to do so this year to maintain its credibility. Its 164 members are also at odds about how it should resolve disputes. The prize might be a significant reduction in widespread fishing subsidies, which are widely regarded as the single most important contributor in the depletion of the world’s fish populations. The WTO claims to be “on the verge” of a settlement, with Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala saying the virtual ministerial meeting “should kick us along the path towards agreement” ahead of a November session aimed at finalizing the pact. Some delegates are privately more skeptical, claiming that there is still a divide in opinion on how to allocate subsidies between affluent members like the European Union and developing countries like India. “Many members believe that the larger subsidisers should make larger cuts to their subsidies, given the global impact of their fishing, both historical and current,” said Alice Tipping of the International Institute for Sustainable Development. “However, many developing countries believe that the rules should be different for them,” she added. A confidential plan obtained by Reuters in May by African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries seeks exclusions for members who take less than 2.5 percent of the global catch – a move critics fear would jeopardize the entire agreement. ‘RACE TO THE BOTTOM’ is a phrase that refers to a race to the bottom. According to a 2019 study here by academics from universities and institutes in Canada, China, and the United States, while China is the largest single subsidiser, it only accounts for 21% of the $35.4 billion that countries and trading blocs around the world, including the EU and Japan, spend annually to prop up their fleets. tmsnrt.rs/3AyX2Jh ( tmsnrt.rs/3AyX2Jh ) Meanwhile, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, sustainable fish stocks have declined from 90% of total in 1990 to below 66% in 2017. tmsnrt.rs/3yt6ufv ( tmsnrt.rs/3yt6ufv ) According to a 2018 study conducted here by academics from the United States, Canada, and Australia, much fishing in international waters – the “high seas” – would be unprofitable without government subsidies. “The stocks are wrecked in the oceans of the nations from where fleets originate, so they have to travel somewhere else and compete with each other,” said Daniel Pauly, a fisheries researcher at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who is particularly concerned about tuna. “This is a race to the bottom,” says the narrator. Tipping claims that the WTO is closer to a deal than it has ever been, but that a draft text still has 84 areas where no agreement has been reached. China, according to negotiators, could aid by removing its opposition to subsidies on the high seas, and the EU could do the same with fuel subsidies. Some also want Washington to budge, maybe by abandoning its plan to limit forced labor, another cost-cutting move that contributes to overfishing. “This is the last chance for a deal,” said Remi Parmentier of Friends of Ocean Action. “If not, the WTO will face an existential dilemma.” Philip Blenkinsop contributed additional reporting from Brussels, and Kevin Liffey edited the piece./n
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