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18 Proposals for Action
Global Ocean Commission Summary Report 2014
Proposal 3 No More Overfishing – Ending harmful high seas subsidies
It is imperative to address the main drivers of fishing vessel overcapacity, in particular, the issue of capacity-enhancing subsidies. The Commission asks WTO member States to urgently adopt a three-step approach to dealing with this problem and so remove the negative financial incentives that maintain a global fishing fleet which has too many boats chasing an ever diminishing supply of fish. Step 1: Full transparency (disclosure) of fisheries subsidies. Step 2: Classification of fisheries subsidies in order to identify and distinguish those that are harmful. Step 3: Immediately capping and then phasing out high seas fishing fuel subsidies within five years.