Walking down a beach on Costa Rica's pacific coast one can encounter local fishermen unloading their catch and selling it directly to phone-in-hand in awe tourists. Similar scenes are common in rural areas of Asia and Africa, and in Europe it can still be observed in Sicily. Local fishing has historically been and still is an important source of income and protein for otherwise job-starved communities in Africa. However, along its shores the practice is increasingly at risk by the presence of large fleets of foreign vessels, which cast their nests indiscriminately and even threaten locals (1). This is a consequence of large fishing companies searching for shoals of fish away from their usual grounds. Countries with weak law enforcement are particularly appealing to them. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's 2022 State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report, about 57% of the world's fish stocks were at maximum fishing capacity or overfished in 2022. This is in stark contrast with just 10% in 1979 (2), even though the size of the world's fleet has been decreasing. This challenge requires global action. Policy makers often promise to strengthen conservation, and indeed more marine reserves have been established over the last decades; however, this often comes hand-in-hand with more subsidies. Those bestowed upon Chinese, European or American industrial fishing are particularly large. The World Trade Organisation adopted in 2022 a resolution aiming to cut harmful subsidies, but it still awaits ratification (3,4). In the end, it seems that the secret to enjoying local fresh seafood in a tropical beach, rests upon good governance at the local and international levels. Read more: 1) https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/04/11/chinas-fishing-fleet-is-causing-havoc-off-africas-coasts 2) https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/11a4abd8-4e09-4bef-9c12-900fb4605a02 3) https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2023/05/fisheries-subsidies-agreement-whats-the-big-deal 4) https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_e.htm Photo: FAO