Fisheries subsidies have encouraged unethical and unsustainable fishing practices which have, in turn, contributed to a drastic loss in fish populations. This has led to the implementation of the 2022 WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS). The resources listed provide insights into the concerns surrounding fisheries subsidies which ultimately led to the development of the AFS.

Sala, E., Mayorga, J., Costello, C., Kroodsma, D., Palomares, M. L. D., Pauly, D., Sumaila, U. R., & Zeller, D. (2018). The economics of fishing the high seas. Science Advances, 4(6),

Abstract:

While the ecological impacts of fishing the waters beyond national jurisdiction (the “high seas”) have been widely studied, the economic rationale is more difficult to ascertain because of scarce data on the costs and revenues of the fleets that fish there. Newly compiled satellite data and machine learning now allow us to track individual fishing vessels on the high seas in near real time. These technological advances help us quantify high-seas fishing effort, costs, and benefits, and assess whether, where, and when high-seas fishing makes economic sense. We characterize the global high-seas fishing fleet and report the economic benefits of fishing the high seas globally, nationally, and at the scale of individual fleets. Our results suggest that fishing at the current scale is enabled by large government subsidies, without which as much as 54% of the present high-seas fishing grounds would be unprofitable at current fishing rates. The patterns of fishing profitability vary widely between countries, types of fishing, and distance to port. Deep-sea bottom trawling often produces net economic benefits only thanks to subsidies, and much fishing by the world’s largest fishing fleets would largely be unprofitable without subsidies and low labor costs. These results support recent calls for subsidy and fishery management reforms on the high seas.

Parmentier, R. Tackling harmful incentives and unsustainable fisheries practices, Fish Trade (UNCTAD, 2016).

Abstract:

Addressing government incentives that drive unsustainable fisheries practices is not just an environmental imperative. Government subsidies in the fisheries sector can also have severe negative social and economic impacts for the most vulnerable countries
and communities. The adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 brings hope of addressing this unfair situation, specifically thanks to Target 14.6, whereby the international community has committed to prohibit fisheries subsidies that contribute to overfishing and to IUU fishing. Considerable resources would be saved if harmful fisheries subsidies were prohibited and spent to secure the implementation of other SDG 14 targets for the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean, for example through a Blue Fund that would be established to that effect. Inaction on fish subsidies at the latest Ministerial Conference of the WTO held in December 2015 – three months after the adoption of the SDGs – is not an encouraging sign, but the upcoming High-Level United Nations Conference on Oceans and Seas in June 2017 may provide a new opportunity.