African leaders must urge WTO members to end distant-water fishing subsidies

Other governments prop up their distant-water fleets, hurting fisheries throughout the region Mauritania's waters are rich in biodiversity: More than 600 fish species live in the northwest African nation's territorial waters. The fishing industry provides jobs for 180,400 people and accounts for up to 10% of the country's gross domestic product, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. But that wealth of marine resources is also the reason that fishing fleets from foreign nations flock to Mauritania's coast. These vessels are often powered by harmful government subsidies that pay for fuel and other expenses, artificially lowering the cost of fishing and enabling fleets to fish in areas where it would otherwise not make economic sense. One hundred thirty-five foreign vessels, primarily from Asia and Europe, traveled across the ocean in 2018 to fish in Mauritania's waters, also known as its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), according to a new research-based ...