WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies

Sumaila, U Rashid; Skerritt, Daniel J; Schuhbauer, Anna; Villasante, Sebastian; Cisneros-Montemayor, Andrés M; Sinan, Hussain; Burnside, Duncan; Abdallah, Patrízia Raggi; Abe, Keita; Addo, Kwasi A; Adelsheim, Julia; Adewumi, Ibukun J; Adeyemo, Olanike K; Adger, Neil; Adotey, Joshua; Advani, Sahir; Afrin, Zahidah; Aheto, Denis; Akintola, Shehu L; Akpalu, Wisdom; Alam, Lubna; Alava, Juan José; Allison, Edward H; Amon, Diva J; Anderies, John M; Anderson, Christopher M; Andrews, Evan; Angelini, Ronaldo; Anna, Zuzy; Antweiler, Werner; Arizi, Evans K; Armitage, Derek; Arthur, Robert I; Asare, Noble; Asche, Frank; Asiedu, Berchie; Asuquo, Francis; Badmus, Lanre; Bailey, Megan; Ban, Natalie; Barbier, Edward B; Barley, Shanta; Barnes, Colin; Barrett, Scott; Basurto, Xavier; Belhabib, Dyhia; Bennett, Elena; Bennett, Nathan J; Benzaken, Dominique; Blasiak, Robert; Bohorquez, John J; Bordehore, Cesar; Bornarel, Virginie; Boyd, David R; Breitburg, Denise; Brooks, Cassandra; Brotz, Lucas; Campbell, Donovan; Cannon, Sara; Cao, Ling; Cardenas Campo, Juan C; Carpenter, Steve; Carpenter, Griffin; Carson, Richard T; Carvalho, Adriana R; Castrejón, Mauricio; Caveen, Alex J; Chabi, M Nicole; Chan, Kai M A; Chapin, F Stuart; Charles, Tony; Cheung, William; Christensen, Villy; Chuku, Ernest O; Church, Trevor; Clark, Colin; Clarke, Tayler M; Cojocaru, Andreea L; Copeland, Brian; Crawford, Brian; Crépin, Anne-Sophie; Crowder, Larry B; Cury, Philippe; Cutting, Allison N; Daily, Gretchen C; Da-Rocha, Jose Maria; Das, Abhipsita; de la Puente, Santiago; de Zeeuw, Aart; Deikumah, Savior K S; Deith, Mairin; Dewitte, Boris; Doubleday, Nancy; Duarte, Carlos M; Dulvy, Nicholas K; Eddy, Tyler; Efford, Meaghan; Ehrlich, Paul R; Elsler, Laura G; Fakoya, Kafayat A; Falaye, A Eyiwunmi; Fanzo, Jessica; Fitzsimmons, Clare; Flaaten, Ola; Florko, Katie R N; Aviles, Marta Flotats; Folke, Carl; Forrest, Andrew; Freeman, Peter; Freire, Kátia M F; Froese, Rainer; Frölicher, Thomas L; Gallagher, Austin; Garcon, Veronique; Gasalla, Maria A; Gephart, Jessica A; Gibbons, Mark; Gillespie, Kyle; Giron-Nava, Alfredo; Gjerde, Kristina; Glaser, Sarah; Golden, Christopher; Gordon, Line; Govan, Hugh; Gryba, Rowenna; Halpern, Benjamin S; Hanich, Quentin; Hara, Mafaniso; Harley, Christopher D G; Harper, Sarah; Harte, Michael; Helm, Rebecca; Hendrix, Cullen; Hicks, Christina C; Hood, Lincoln; Hoover, Carie; Hopewell, Kristen; Horta E Costa, Bárbara B; Houghton, Jonathan D R; Iitembu, Johannes A; Isaacs, Moenieba; Isahaku, Sadique; Ishimura, Gakushi; Islam, Monirul; Issifu, Ibrahim; Jackson, Jeremy; Jacquet, Jennifer; Jensen, Olaf P; Ramon, Jorge Jimenez; Jin, Xue; Jonah, Alberta; Jouffray, Jean-Baptiste; Juniper, S Kim; Jusoh, Sufian; Kadagi, Isigi; Kaeriyama, Masahide; Kaiser, Michel J; Kaiser, Brooks Alexandra; Kakujaha-Matundu, Omu; Karuaihe, Selma T; Karumba, Mary; Kemmerly, Jennifer D; Khan, Ahmed S; Kimani, Patrick; Kleisner, Kristin; Knowlton, Nancy; Kotowicz, Dawn; Kurien, John; Kwong, Lian E; Lade, Steven; Laffoley, Dan; Lam, Mimi E; Lam, Vicky W L; Lange, Glenn-Marie; Latif, Mohd T; Le Billon, Philippe; Le Brenne, Valérie; Le Manach, Frédéric; Levin, Simon A; Levin, Lisa; Limburg, Karin E; List, John; Lombard, Amanda T; Lopes, Priscila F M; Lotze, Heike K; Mallory, Tabitha G; Mangar, Roshni S; Marszalec, Daniel; Mattah, Precious; Mayorga, Juan; Mcausland, Carol; Mccauley, Douglas J; Mclean, Jeffrey; Mcmullen, Karly; Meere, Frank; Mejaes, Annie; Melnychuk, Michael; Mendo, Jaime; Micheli, Fiorenza; Millage, Katherine; Miller, Dana; Mohamed, Kolliyil Sunil; Mohammed, Essam; Mokhtar, Mazlin; Morgan, Lance; Muawanah, Umi; Munro, Gordon R; Murray, Grant; Mustafa, Saleem; Nayak, Prateep; Newell, Dianne; Nguyen, Tu; Noack, Frederik; Nor, Adibi M; Nunoo, Francis K E; Obura, David; Okey, Tom; Okyere, Isaac; Onyango, Paul; Oostdijk, Maartje; Orlov, Polina; Österblom, Henrik; Owens, Dwight; Owens, Tessa; Oyinlola, Mohammed; Pacoureau, Nathan; Pakhomov, Evgeny; Abrantes, Juliano Palacios; Pascual, Unai; Paulmier, Aurélien; Pauly, Daniel; Pèlèbè, Rodrigue Orobiyi Edéya; Peñalosa, Daniel; Pennino, Maria G; Peterson, Garry; Pham, Thuy T T; Pinkerton, Evelyn; Polasky, Stephen; Polunin, Nicholas V C; Prah, Ekow; Ramírez, Jorge; Relano, Veronica; Reygondeau, Gabriel; Robadue, Don; Roberts, Callum; Rogers, Alex; Roumbedakis, Katina; Sala, Enric; Scheffer, Marten; Segerson, Kathleen; Seijo, Juan Carlos; Seto, Karen C; Shogren, Jason F; Silver, Jennifer J; Singh, Gerald; Soszynski, Ambre; Splichalova, Dacotah-Victoria; Spring, Margaret; Stage, Jesper; Stephenson, Fabrice; Stewart, Bryce D; Sultan, Riad; Suttle, Curtis; Tagliabue, Alessandro; Tall, Amadou; Talloni-Álvarez, Nicolás; Tavoni, Alessandro; Taylor, D R Fraser; Teh, Louise S L; Teh, Lydia C L; Thiebot, Jean-Baptiste; Thiele, Torsten; Thilsted, Shakuntala H; Thumbadoo, Romola V; Tigchelaar, Michelle; Tol, Richard S J; Tortell, Philippe; Troell, Max; Uzmanoğlu, M Selçuk; van Putten, Ingrid; van Santen, Gert; Villaseñor-Derbez, Juan Carlos; Wabnitz, Colette C C; Walsh, Melissa; Walsh, J P; Wambiji, Nina; Weber, Elke U; Westley, Frances; Williams, Stella; Wisz, Mary S; Worm, Boris; Xiao, Lan; Yagi, Nobuyuki; Yamazaki, Satoshi; Yang, Hong; Zeller, Dirk

doi:10.1126/science.abm1680

Sustainably managed wild fisheries support food and nutritional security, livelihoods, and cultures. Harmful fisheries subsidies—government payments that incentivize overcapacity and lead to overfishing—undermine these benefits yet are increasing globally. World Trade Organization (WTO) members have a unique opportunity at their ministerial meeting in November to reach an agreement that eliminates harmful subsidies. We—a group of scientists spanning 46 countries and 6 continents—urge the WTO to make this commitment.

Sumaila, U.R., Skerritt, D.J., Schuhbauer, A., Villasante, S., Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M., Sinan, H., et al. (2021). WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies. SCIENCE, 374, 544-544 [10.1126/science.abm1680].