Rescuing the Inexhaustible

The Issue of Fisheries Subsidies in the International

Introduction



Ocean fish numbers around 28,000 different types of species. This is more than the number of amphibians, reptiles, birds or mammals on the entire planet. It seems just innumerable... Nevertheless, humanity has succeeded in over fishing.



Many ocean fishes are ancient species that existed on the earth for more than 450 million years before the dinosaurs began roaming. For this reason alone, they deserve careful treatment and special protection. But besides this, fishes are such an essential source of protein and other nutrients in the human diet, as well as in the diets of multiple other animal and bird species, that their depletion seems almost unthinkable.



The international community has started to combat over fishing by different means and techniques: fishing of some species is totally prohibited, while for other species seasonal quotas, protection during the spawning season and minimum mesh sizes have been established (Tomasevich, 1971 p. 46).



Biological solutions like these have not worked out, however. This is not surprising, since the main causes of over fishing are not biological or environmental, but rather economic overexploitation of the ocean's fishing resources. Since the problem is an economic one, the appropriate response to it also has to be an economic one. Proper fisheries management and restrictions on fleets' capacity (including the issue of fishery subsidies) also would be very effective.


However, today's model of economic globalization presumes an open multilateral trading system functioning like clockwork. Is the restriction or abolition of fishery subsidies workable under today's economic circumstances? How should these issues be treated so as to not distort the global market, or ruin the already troubled fishing industry? What kind of legal frameworks should it hav...

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