The poor condition of many of the world's maritime capture fisheries has been the subject of increasing global attention in recent years. Not only are the economic effects of the reduction of fishery resources on the economies of both developed and less developed regions raised, but also the fact that the near commercial extinction of fish stocks has important effects on the ecosystem. This situation could have the even more serious effect of reducing the availability of relatively cheap animal protein for urban populations that are less likely to be able to obtain protein from other sources. The declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), recently held in Doha,
The problem of concern is overfishing, but what arises in practice is to what extent subsidies help to stimulate it. If the existence of subsidies encourages overfishing, the policy question is how to control or eliminate such subsidies. One of the proposals in this regard is to put into play on this issue the enforcement powers of the WTO and, hence, the mention of fishing in the Doha declaration. Subsidies how to get free government money you never pay back serve two other functions: to the extent that they stimulate fishing, they can increase a country's national income. As long as the fishery is underdeveloped, that is, as long as it is fished to an extent that can be safely sustained, subsidies that stimulate fishing can be useful. On the other hand,
The issue of subsidies is sensitive and complex. It is delicate because governments introduce them for reasons they consider valid, especially their role in economic development mentioned above. Over time, grants that may have served a useful social purpose can become entrenched and serve primarily the interests of the industry participants who receive them. In such a case, the elimination of these subsidies becomes a matter of local policy perhaps with international repercussions. No country wants others to meddle in its internal policies. Fisheries subsidies, and to a considerable extent subsidies in general, have become the target of precisely this intrusion.
The issue of subsidies is complex also because no agreement has even been reached on what a subsidy is. There is no agreement on how they can be measured, nor on how their effects can be measured. At the policy level, there is no agreement on when subsidies are useful and when they are harmful. Part of the reason for this lack of agreement is the complexity of the problem of assessing the effects of subsidies on the economy, the environment, international and domestic trade, and the sustainability of fish stocks. Another part of the reason for the lack of agreement on such basic issues as the definition of a subsidy is that, as subsidies are currently being proposed as something that needs to be eliminated,