The sea is running out of fish! - Fish prices will rise

Source National Geographic.

Even the main countries that promise to reduce funding for fisheries cannot stop the rise of the seafood industry.

Even if the countries try to stop fish in the sea is running out. Fish prices will rise.

As global fish stocks are feeding hundreds of millions of people, countries are striving to conclude an international agreement that bans state subsidies that feed overfishing by the end of the year.

Although negotiations with the World Trade Organization continue in Geneva, Switzerland, new research shows that governments have increased financial support for fisheries practices that reduce marine life, despite the promise to reduce those declarations.

In a comprehensive survey of 152 countries, scientists from the University of British Columbia found that ocean breeding nations spent $ 22 billion on harmful subsidies in 2018, or 63 percent of the total amount of fisheries spent to support the global fishing industry.

This is an increase of 6 percent since 2009. Harmful subsidies refers to those who support overfishing and illegal fishing, such as subsidies that reduce fuel costs that allow industrial fishing boats to sail to the farthest points on the planet. Fuel subsidies alone accounted for 22 percent of all fishing subsidies last year.

According to research published in Marine Policy, China, which operates the world’s largest overseas fishing fleet, has increased pest subsidies by <105> 105 percent in the last decade.

“It’s hard to take much positive from this study, but it can be a rallying cry for governments as the WTO is in a position to end harmful subsidies and have a huge impact on the ocean,” said Isabel Jarrett, manager of Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew Charitable Trusts also helped finance the research.

Time is expiring

The findings underscore the high amounts in Geneva because it only lasts three months to reach an agreement on fishing subsidies.

Marine scientists and policy experts say that a legally binding agreement is critical to ban destructive fishing subsidies because climate change is disrupting marine ecosystems. The United Nations report, a landmark in September, found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to be reduced, the maximum catch from fishing may fall by 24.1 percent by the end of the century.

“After 20 years of discussions on fisheries subsidies within the WTO, the discussion on the technical aspects has been pretty much exhausted,” says Rémi Parmentier, director of Madrid-based consultancy the Varda Group and a longtime observer of the negotiations. “The key ingredient that is missing is the political will to push the negotiation to the finish line.”