Traditional fishing communities in Kerala and other coastal States in the country are increasingly restive over the international negotiations to discipline fisheries subsidies in the run up to the eleventh ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) scheduled to take place in Argentina early December. Leaders of various organisations and trade unions representing fisherfolk are preparing to step up pressure on the government not to dilute the subsidies to the sector. They feel that yielding to pressure from international lobbies to cut subsidies would affect the livelihood of tens of thousands of fishers in the developing world and aggravate their vulnerabilities. A WTO pact on disciplining fisheries subsidies will work out to the detriment of small-scale, artisanal fishers and coastal communities at large, says T. Peter, general secretary, National Fishworkers Forum (NFF). WTO negotiations have focussed on trimming subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity and those relating to overexploited fish stocks and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that more than 30% of fish stocks are overexploited. A key negotiator for India at the trade talks said most of the WTO members had come round to the need to discipline subsidies. Flexible approach India has argued for developing countries to be given special and differential treatment in the form of flexibilities in withdrawing the subsidies for small-scale fishermen. It has also proposed the exclusion of territorial waters from provisions curbing subsidies. Artisanal fishermen maintain that the government is often blind to the difference between livelihood fishing and large-scale, profit-driven fisheries. They point out that subsidies offer a lifeline for small-scale fishers who also play a key role in coastal security. Going by past experience, any move to prune fisheries subsidies would be limited to the small scale sector which is one of the most marginalised communities and generally most vulnerable to climate change, observes Mr. Peter. Foreign trawlers and large fishing vessels get away with destructive fishing practices that deplete fish stocks while traditional fishers come under severe restrictions, notes Anto Elias, vice-president, Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation. The need to protect the livelihood rights of fisherfolk is one of the key topics to be deliberated at the seventh general assembly of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples to be held in New Delhi from Nov 15 to 21.