In June 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold a meeting in Kazakhstan. An agreement to curb harmful fisheries subsidies is on the agenda for the meeting. Negotiations about these subsidies are already ongoing.
As the WTO points out on its website:
UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 14.6 sets a deadline of 2020 for eliminating subsidies to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and for prohibiting certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, with special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries.
The actual impact of fisheries subsidies on the local level is shown by a recently published documentary from Senegal. Local fishermen have been struggling with the impacts of climate change, subsidised foreign trawlers and some other issues. In combination, these issues have led to a severe decline of fish stocks, causing a broad range of problems on land.
