Ocean advocates hopeful WTO cut in fishing support

By Missy Ryan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of action to protect the world's fragile fish stocks are hoping that a recent proposal to drastically limit fishing subsidies will prevail in global trade talks.

"We are in such dire conditions," said Courtney Sakai, campaign director for Oceana, an environmental group that vocally opposed subsidies for boat-building, fuel and other activities they say have pushed fisheries close to exhaustion.

Critics of those subsidies, which total about $20 billion a year globally, hope that a long-awaited agreement in the World Trade Organization's Doha round will force countries like Japan to scale back payments.

"There really needs to be a reduction in these subsidies that encourage overfishing," Sakai said.

Ocean activists say that overfishing and habitat destruction could collapse the world's fish and seafood populations by 2048.

According to the United Nations, 52 percent of marine fish stocks are at or near the maximum sustainable output levels, and almost 20 percent are over-exploited.

The United States is also hoping the Doha round, which negotiators are angling to conclude this year, will be a vehicle for new restrictions.

Last year, the Bush administration called in the talks for a blanket ban on subsidies for wild-capture fishing.