In June 2022 the WTO agreed to its first environmentally focused Agreement: The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. 160 member states agreed to limit their fisheries subsidies, a key contributor to overfishing.

The current agreement prohibits subsidies to:

• overfished stocks (decided by RFMOs)
• to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
• for vessels fishing in the high seas.

However, the agreement does not include "capacity building" and all "harmful subsidies." These are the subsidies that lead to overfishing and artificially reduce the fishing industry's costs. 

These include:

• fossil fuel subsidies
• modernising fishing fleets
• fishing beyond the member states' waters (EEZs)

We urge member states to include ALL harmful subsidies in the Agreement of Fisheries Subsidies to really address our current overfishing problem.

Please sign and share this petition.

The Seaspiracy Team