Roberto Azevêdo, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), recently went on record about the importance of completing by year-end the WTO negotiations for the elimination of fisheries subsidies that contribute to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, overfishing and the overcapacity of fishing fleets and infrastructures. I could not agree with him more.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), 33% of the world’s fish populations are overfished, 60% are being fished to their sustainable limit, and there is a margin for growth in catches of only 7% of the entire world’s fish populations (the so-called “underfished stocks”). And fisheries subsidies are considered to be the main driver of overfishing. For example, economists have shown that some fisheries in the high seas (the area beyond the 200-mile national jurisdiction) simply would not be economically feasible in the absence of government support, given the high fuel costs for long distance travel.
"Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Shirika la Biashara Duniani (WTO) Roberto Azevedo amesema kuwa ""tunaomba kuondoa misaada ya uvuvi ambayo huchangia uvuvi haramu, usio na sheria na usiojulikana (IUU) na uvuvi wa kupita kiasi na uwezo wa uvuvi wa meli na miundombinu.""" Sikubaliani naye zaidi. Kulingana na Shirika la Chakula na Kilimo la Umoja wa Mataifa (FAO), asilimia 33 ya samaki duniani wanashambuliwa kupita kiasi, asilimia 60 wanashambuliwa hadi kiwango chao cha kudumu, na kuna nafasi ya kuongezeka kwa samaki 7% tu ya samaki duniani kote (yaani, samaki wasio na samaki wa kutosha). Na ruzuku za uvuvi zinachukuliwa kuwa kichocheo kikuu cha uvuvi kupita kiasi. Kwa mfano, wataalamu wa uchumi wameonyesha kuwa baadhi ya uvuvi katika bahari ya juu (eneo zaidi ya 200 maili ya mamlaka ya kitaifa) tu itakuwa haiwezekani kiuchumi katika kukosekana kwa msaada wa serikali, kutokana na gharama za juu za mafuta kwa ajili ya safari ya umbali mrefu.