“As terrible as COVID-19 is, there may be a silver lining; it may provide the world with an opportunity to foster a sustainable ocean economy that puts people and ocean biodiversity first by saying no to harmful subsidies – that is, those that lead to overfishing and over exploitation.

The double crises of COVID-19 and ocean biodiversity depletion demand that governments worldwide focus their spending on the things that matter to us most – not to fund what ails us by jeopardizing ocean biodiversity and the livelihoods of the tens of millions of people who depend on it.

Rather than being an obstacle to reining in harmful fisheries subsidies, for example, the pandemic should be seen as an opportunity to reach a sustainable deal at the WTO on eliminating and/or redirecting current harmful fisheries subsidies estimated at $22 billion a year.”