The report highlights unique sustainability challenges faced by deep sea species due to late maturation, slow growth, long lifespans, low mortality rates, and infrequent spawning.
- It also highlights the threat of overfishing as well as Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as major concerns.
Key Findings
- Only 29% of deep-sea fish stocks are being sustainably fished, making them highly vulnerable.
- Globally, 64.5% of all fishery stocks are exploited within sustainable levels, while 35.5% are overfished.
- Over half of highly migratory shark stocks are considered unsustainable, with 43.5% of 23 assessed shark stocks being overfished.
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies creates three key prohibitions:
- Bans subsidies for vessels or operators involved in IUU fishing.
- Prohibits subsidies for fishing overfished stocks unless measures are in place to rebuild them to sustainable levels.
- Forbids subsidies for fishing activities outside coastal state jurisdiction and beyond regional fisheries management organization oversight.
About IUU fishingIt is a broad term that captures a wide variety of fishing activity, occurring both on the high seas and in areas within national jurisdiction.
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