Policy & Livelihood Challenges for India’s Fishing Communities: Implications of the WTO Agreement

Fishing communities today are grappling with multiple crises; extreme climate events that have devastated their habitats and livelihoods, the economic and health crisis from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a recent slew of pro corporate neoliberal policies at the domestic and international level. The latest salvo is from the World Trade Organisations’s (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. In June 2022 the multilateral negotiations at the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO culminated into an Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which have severe ramifications for the fishers in poorer countries.

In these series of videos we delve into some of the critical questions – What are the implications of international rule-making on domestic subsidies? What does the future hold for India’s fishing sector – especially small-scale fishers.

These videos are from an online dialogue on The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies – Policy and Livelihood Challenges for India’s Fishing Communities, organised on September 24, 2022. This Dialogue is the first in a two-part series and brings together experts on trade negotiations, fisheries subsidies and economic aspects of the sector to discuss the implications of the WTO Agreement on fishing communities.

Collaborating organisations included: National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), National Platform for Small Scale Fish Workers (NPSSFW), All India Fishers and Fisheries Workers’ Federation (AIFFWF), Delhi Forum, National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN), Focus on the Global South

Video 1 — Policy & Livelihood Challenges for India’s Fishing Communities: Implications of the WTO Agreement