WTO talks: India proposes scrapping subsidies for fishing only outside territorial waters

With a pact on disciplining fisheries subsidies one of the likely outcomes of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December, India has offered two oral proposals on over-fishing and flexibilities for developing countries to protect subsidies extended to subsistence and artisanal fishing in the country.

India, at a recent meeting on fisheries subsidies at the WTO, suggested that there might be no need for a carve-out benefiting small scale fishers in subsidies if members instead agreed to apply prohibitions only outside territorial waters except in cases of IUU (illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing). “New Delhi’s proposal generated a lot of interest from members including ones pushing seriously for a pact,” a government official told BusinessLine . Norway, for instance, said that India’s suggestion “merits consideration”. The EU said it was holding bilateral discussions with India.

On over-fishing, India suggested that when a fish stock is found to be over-fished, developing countries must be given some flexibility in terms of the number of years to withdraw related subsidies and that this rule should only cover areas beyond territorial waters.

The discussions on curbing fisheries subsidies had gathered pace at the WTO following an informal grouping of members called “Friends of Fish” (including Argentina, Australia, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland, Pakistan, Peru and the US) pointing out that subsidies to the fisheries sector — estimated at $14 billion–$20.5 billion annually or 20–25 per cent of revenues — have led to over-capacity and overfishing.

New Delhi’s concerns about the disciplines being negotiated stem from the fact that the subsidies it provides in the form of support for motorisation of fishing boats, fuel rebates and infrastructure support, all fall under the targeted subsidies list at the WTO.

Some countries including Japan, South Korea and Chinese Taipei have expressed scepticism over the link between subsidies and over-fishing. Many developing countries such as India and the Philippines have been seeking flexibility in granting subsidies to their fisheries sectors.

India’s proposals add to the so-called “matrix’’, which is a compilation comparing seven proposals with the objective of arriving at a draft decision by December.

The US, which too was not part of the matrix, gave its proposal stating that it would like a strong, clean prohibition on fisheries subsidies that negatively affect over-fished stocks and that this too should be applied with no exceptions, contrary to some members’ proposals to leave the management of territorial waters to their respective national authorities and in effect exclude territorial waters from the scope of this discipline.

“It is essential for India to be exempted from pruning subsidies for our small fishermen as they can’t survive without the support. If the WTO agrees to exempt fishing done within territorial waters from provisions curbing subsidies, we won’t have any problem,” the official said.

Overall, marine fish landings in India stood at 3.40 million tonnes in 2015 compared to global marine fishery production of over 83 million tonnes.

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