fisheries policy brief
E liminating government support to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
January 2023
I llegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a key threat to the sustainability of the fisheries sector and the livelihoods it supports. Governments sometimes inadvertently support IUU fishing through poorly targeted subsidies which help keep IUU profitable. utting in place strong mechanisms to exclude all those involved in IUU fishing from P government support is key to its eradication. Re-purposing support to fisheries away from the subsidies that are most likely to benefit IUU fishing – such as subsidies to fuel, vessels or access to fishing infrastructure – is also important given the difficulty of tracking individual recipients of support.
What’s the issue? In June 2022, after more than 20 years of negotiations, members of the WTO agreed to prohibit some of the most harmful types of fisheries subsidies – including subsidies to IUU fishing (see box). The challenge is now to put in place mechanisms which allow countries to cut support to IUU fishing effectively. The OECD Review of Fisheries 2022 offers concrete advice on how to do so, as summarised in this brief. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the fishing-related activities that support it – such as the transhipment of fish from fishing vessels onto larger refrigerated vessels which then carry, store and deliver the fish to port – continue to seriously undermine and threaten fisheries, coastal communities and the sustainability of the ocean economy. IUU fishing complicates the stock assessments that underpin evidence-based fisheries management and causes lawabiding fishers to face unfair competition over resources and in markets. It also results in important tax revenue losses. Globally, 8 to 14 million tonnes of unreported catches are likely entering the global market every year, leading to estimated annual losses throughout the economy of USD 26-50 billion, and lost tax revenues of USD 2-4 billion.
www.oecd.org/agriculture
tad.contact@oecd.org
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies bans subsidies to IUU fishing and calls on Members to effectively eliminate such subsidies Article 3.1: ‘No Member shall grant or maintain any subsidy to a vessel or operator engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing or fishing related activities in support of IUU fishing.’ Article 3.7: ‘Each Member shall have laws, regulations and/or administrative procedures in place to ensure that subsidies referred to in Article 3.1, including such subsidies existing at the entry into force of this Agreement, are not granted or maintained.’ (From the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.)
IUU fishing covers a range of different activities and contexts, from industrial vessels fishing illegally in the waters of a foreign country to small-scale fishers failing
@OECDagriculture