Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 20 • 5th November 2004
UN Report Highlights Threats to Artisanal Fisheries
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Greater privatisation, export orientation and subsidies of the fishing industry have jeopardised the right to food of poor fishing communities worldwide, according to a recent report by UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights. Despite attempts over the last two decades to address fishery-related issues, such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, a number of factors are leading to the loss of livelihoods and access to food of poor fishing communities. The UN report says that developed country subsidies to their fishing fleets and fishing industry, estimated to be at least US$15 billion annually, lead them to demand greater access rights in developing countries, resulting in control over former traditional fishing grounds. Also, the report suggests that inequities in bilateral fishing negotiations can lead to the neglect of equity concerns and potential impacts on poor fishing communities, artisanal fishers and small-scale fisheries. Poorer countries also have less capacity to monitor their fisheries and government budgets in this area may be constrained by “globalised economic policy”. Moreover, the drive towards privatisation — going hand in hand with the assumption that market-based trade in quotas (as in the ITQ, “individual transferable quota”) is necessary to prevent overexploitation — has resulted in the exclusion of traditional fishing communities from access to their marine resources, even though it is often large-scale fishing that is most responsible for overfishing. The report goes on to note that with the increasing popularity of fish farming over marine catching, the required capital-intensity of fishing is increasing and thereby excluding small-scale fishing communities. Fish farming can also have harmful environmental effects, it suggests, particularly in cases such as large-scale shrimp farming which is most often unsustainable and, as noted by the Indian Supreme Court, can result in loss of access to safe drinking water. The report concludes by reminding governments of their obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the right of all people to food, and in particular to ensure that the transformation of the fishing industry does not threaten the food security and livelihoods of the poor.
“Rights And Resources Of Artisanal Fishing Communities Should Be Respected, Says UN Report,” SUBLEGALS, Vol. 10, No. 13, 29 October 2004; “The Right To Food,” UN, Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, September 2004; “Sri Lanka: Deep Sea Fishing Policy Threatens The Livelihood Of One Million Fisher Folk,” FIAN, 9 October 2004.
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