Draft agreement on fisheries subsidies submitted to ministers: WTO

The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations at WTO has submitted a draft agreement -- aimed at banning subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations at WTO, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, has submitted a draft agreement -- aimed at banning subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing -- to ministers ahead of the upcoming Ministerial Conference, beginning from November 30 in Geneva.

The draft agreement was submitted on November 24, WTO said in a statement.

India is suggesting that those countries which are engaged in distant water fishing and beyond their natural geographic area should stop giving subsidies for 25 years in fishing areas beyond their exclusive economic zones (200 nautical miles).

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) statement said all provisions in the draft agreement remain open for discussion if ministers wish to do so.

"There is language in the draft marked with brackets to represent areas where members' views continue to diverge and on which ministers' attention will be warranted. Members are continuing discussions to try to narrow the few differences even further before MC12 (12th ministerial conference), which will be held from November 30 to December 3," it said.

According to an official, the draft agreement has still not addressed issues related to distant water fishing.

Wills has stated that this draft "reflects an honest attempt to find a balance in members' positions and I think it is the most likely way we can build consensus, without undermining our sustainability objective, and successfully conclude more than 20 years of negotiations."

India has time and again emphasised that it is keen to finalise an agreement on fisheries subsidies in the WTO as irrational benefits and overfishing by many countries are hurting domestic fishermen and their livelihood.

The objective of these ongoing negotiations is to discipline subsidies with the overall objective to have sustainable fishing and to eliminate IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing subsidies and prohibit these countries from contributing to overcapacity and overfishing.

"The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, on 24 November submitted a draft agreement to ministers ahead of the upcoming MC12," the WTO said.

Unlike rich nations which provide billions of dollars of subsidies to their fishermen, India's subsidy amounts to only around Rs 770 crore.

The government provides subsidies on things like fuel and boats.