Since the earliest days of dialogue over fisheries subsidies at the WTO, it has been clear that “artisanal fishing” presents a special case. Although never precisely defined, the term has been repeatedly used to identify a set of interests and people likely to need particular treatment under new WTO fishing subsidy disciplines. The urge to protect “artisanal fishing”—and, in essence, to provide certain derogations from new fisheries subsidies disciplines for artisanal fishing—thus has a relatively clear basis. Less well understood, however, is how this urge can or should be translated into practice within new WTO fisheries subsidies rules. As a contribution to the ongoing international dialogue, this paper aims to elucidate some of the technical and political issues underlying that question. In particular, this paper seeks to provide an analytic framework to facilitate discussion of two basic practical questions: (1) What should be the scope of any special rules for subsidies to artisanal fisheries? In particular, what should be the definition of “artisanal fishing” within the ASCM? (2) What limits or disciplines should apply to subsidies to artisanal fisheries under new WTO rules? Are there substantive conditions that should be applied? Procedural conditions?
Rather than proposing definitive answers to these questions, this paper provides an analytic framework, and perhaps a few provocative words, in the hope of aiding discussion among governments and other stakeholders.