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Emerging economy subsidies undermining sustainability of global fisheries

Nature Food volume 3, pages 2–3 (2022)Cite this article

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Capacity-enhancing fishery subsidies provided by emerging economies are supporting overfishing in the high seas and in the national exclusive economic zones of other states. Action must be taken to avoid detrimental impacts on livelihoods and food security across the Global South — before global fish stocks are depleted.

The 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals identified the need to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies as an urgent international priority. Reducing subsidies that contribute to the depletion of global fish stocks is essential to ensuring the sustainability of global food systems and global development. Historically, developed regions provided the vast majority of the world’s harmful fisheries subsidies; developing countries generally lacked the resources to subsidize their fishing sectors on any substantial scale. However, contemporary shifts in global economic activity have altered the dynamics of the fisheries subsidies problem, with many emerging economies becoming the world’s largest fishing countries — and largest providers of subsidies. Consequently, ensuring the sustainability of global fisheries requires tackling harmful subsidies provided by both traditional and emerging subsidizers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Kristen Hopewell & Matias Ezequiel Margulis

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  1. Kristen Hopewell
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  2. Matias Ezequiel Margulis
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Correspondence to Kristen Hopewell.

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Nature Food thanks Clara Weinhardt for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Hopewell, K., Margulis, M.E. Emerging economy subsidies undermining sustainability of global fisheries. Nat Food 3, 2–3 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00451-1

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