Promoting sustainable fishing: from the perspective of Fisheries Funding Mechanism under the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies

IF 3.4 2区生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY

Frontiers in Marine Science Pub Date : 2026-10-23 DOI:10.3389/fmars.2025.1699171

Jiayu Bai, Muyun Guo, Min Zhao

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

With widespread depletion of the world’s marine resources, the sustainable fishing has risen more and more concern on a global scale. After rounds of hard negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) on June 17, 2022. This agreement came into force on September 15, 2025. It aims to promote ocean sustainability by prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies. Recognizing the factual constraints and development needs of some developing country Members, the AFS provides Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) for them. According to Article 7 of the AFS, the WTO established a Fisheries Funding Mechanism to provide developing and least developed country (LDC) Members with targeted technical assistance and capacity building for the purpose of implementing the disciplines under the Agreement. By normative analysis and interdisciplinary approach, this study reviews this Funding Mechanism and determines potential operational challenges, including unpredictable financing, administrative and technical access barriers, vague prioritization and allocation procedures, monitoring, evaluation and learning gaps, and coordination risks. It further proposes certain refinements to enhance transparency, access, and long-term effectiveness. These include clearer prioritization criteria, simplified application procedures, more reliable funding sources, and stronger monitoring and coordination frameworks. A well-functioning assistance system will offer technical and financial aid to support countries in need, enable them to build their national capacity, therefore better complying with the fisheries subsidy disciplines while ensuring their sufficient development space, ultimately helping to achieve the goal of marine sustainable development.

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促进可持续渔业：从《渔业补贴协定》下渔业资金机制的角度

随着世界海洋资源的普遍枯竭，可持续捕捞在全球范围内受到越来越多的关注。经过多轮艰苦谈判，世界贸易组织（WTO）于2022年6月17日通过了《渔业补贴协定》。该协定于2025年9月15日生效。它旨在通过禁止有害的渔业补贴来促进海洋的可持续性。认识到一些发展中国家成员的现实制约和发展需要，AFS为其提供特殊与差别待遇。根据AFS第7条，WTO建立了一个渔业资助机制，为发展中国家和最不发达国家（LDC）成员提供有针对性的技术援助和能力建设，以实施《协定》下的纪律。通过规范分析和跨学科方法，本研究回顾了这一融资机制，并确定了潜在的运营挑战，包括不可预测的融资、行政和技术准入障碍、模糊的优先级和分配程序、监测、评估和学习差距以及协调风险。它进一步提出了某些改进措施，以提高透明度、可及性和长期有效性。这些措施包括更明确的优先标准、简化的申请程序、更可靠的资金来源以及更强有力的监测和协调框架。一个运作良好的援助体系将为有需要的国家提供技术和资金援助，使其能够建设国家能力，从而更好地遵守渔业补贴纪律，同时确保其有足够的发展空间，最终有助于实现海洋可持续发展的目标。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Marine Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Aquatic Science

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

16.20%

发文量

2443

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Marine Science publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that advances our understanding of all aspects of the environment, biology, ecosystem functioning and human interactions with the oceans. Field Chief Editor Carlos M. Duarte at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, policy makers and the public worldwide. With the human population predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is clear that traditional land resources will not suffice to meet the demand for food or energy, required to support high-quality livelihoods. As a result, the oceans are emerging as a source of untapped assets, with new innovative industries, such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, marine energy and deep-sea mining growing rapidly under a new era characterized by rapid growth of a blue, ocean-based economy. The sustainability of the blue economy is closely dependent on our knowledge about how to mitigate the impacts of the multiple pressures on the ocean ecosystem associated with the increased scale and diversification of industry operations in the ocean and global human pressures on the environment. Therefore, Frontiers in Marine Science particularly welcomes the communication of research outcomes addressing ocean-based solutions for the emerging challenges, including improved forecasting and observational capacities, understanding biodiversity and ecosystem problems, locally and globally, effective management strategies to maintain ocean health, and an improved capacity to sustainably derive resources from the oceans.