Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 10 • 19th March 2002
UNEP Fisheries Trade Workshop Highlights Challenges Facing Policymakers
On 15 March, a Workshop on Impacts of Trade-Related Policies on Fisheries and Measures for Sustainable Fisheries Management organised by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) brought together government and non-governmental participants to address some of the most difficult and politically sensitive issues in the trade and sustainable development interface.
The meeting was one of the first opportunities for attendees to discuss fisheries trade issues after trade ministers agreed to address these at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. The meeting was attended by approximately 80 participants, including environment and trade officials, representatives from the WTO, the OECD, the FAO, UNCTAD and numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The active participation of both governments and NGOs demonstrated the strong interest in addressing these issues, though the diversity of views on many aspects of the debate also indicated that there remains considerable room for advancement. While participants agreed that fisheries development, conservation and trade could be mutually supportive, there remained disagreement on the scope and sequence of issues to be examined, including on subsidies.
The meeting focused on general impacts of trade liberalisation and fisheries management via the presentation of a group of case studies, while discussion principally focused on subsidy-related issues. These included a working definition of the term ’subsidy’ in the fisheries sector; establishing causal links between types of subsides, conditions of management and the state of fish stocks; and special treatment for developing countries on subsidies reform. Three UNEP-commissioned case studies were presented. These included country studies for Bangladesh, Mauritania and Uganda as well as a study performed by Japan on management and macroeconomic factors affecting fisheries. These were complemented by presentations from collaborating international organisations and NGOs
Among the major fisheries management issues discussed was the participation of foreign fleets in fisheries and the ability of governments to assess the benefits and drawbacks of access agreements, and their ability to enforce them once entered. Similarly, the impact on specific fisheries by unregulated entry of non-members, where management agreements exist, was pointed out as a critical factor in addressing fishery sustainability and effective trade.
Although attendees generally favoured addressing subsidies that were harmful for fisheries and trade, they were divided on how to approach them, with some participants calling for advancing a broad-based understanding of the specific factors that impacted individual fisheries (referred to as a matrix approach). Others called for a targeted approach of studying a few key areas where subsidies were thought to be particularly distortive or beneficial.
Participants also discussed the definition of subsidies in the fisheries sector and their inclusion in talks at the WTO. Among the benefits of a clearer definition, according to some, would be to improve the framework for notifications in the WTO. Most participants seemed to favour a narrower definition that built on the current definition in the WTO’s Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement and perhaps extended to sector specific clarification; there was little support for expanding the definition of subsidies to include the costs of fisheries management services or of inadequate enforcement. Several participants also expressed considerable concern for the treatment of artisanal fisheries and their particularly sensitive role in providing food, employment and broader development.
Participants called for UNEP to continue to conduct case studies and advance its work by continuing to provide an open forum for discussion. Many participants also supported continued coordination between intergovernmental organisations and NGOs working in the fisheries area.
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