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The article calls on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies to curb overfishing, biodiversity degradation and loss, and carbon dioxide emissions. Fisheries subsidies that cause harm include those that lower the cost of fuel and vessel construction, those that provide price support to keep market prices artificially high, and those provided to distant-water fishing fleets.

The article focuses on high-seas fishing effort, costs and benefits. It refers to the economic benefits of fishing the high seas at the scale of individual fleets, globally and nationally. It states that large government subsidies enables fishing at the current scale while patterns of fishing profitability vary widely between countries.