1st May 2006
Trade and Marketplace Measures to Promote Sustainable Fishing Practices
Fish and fish products provide important trade and livelihoods opportunities in many coastal developing countries. Nearly 40 percent of fish output is traded internationally with an export value of US$ 58.2 billion, making seafood one of the most extensively traded commodities in the world. Exports of fish products from developing countries today comprise 20 percent of agricultural and food-processing exports – more than tropical beverages, nuts, spices, cotton, sugar and confectionary combined. These exports are likely to increase as demand for fish products continues to increase. In addition to providing a significant source of export revenue for developing countries, the fishing sector also constitutes a vital component of domestic food intake and an important provider of local livelihoods.
Meanwhile, fish stocks around the world are under significant pressure with some disappearing or becoming economically unviable. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that as much as 75 percent of global marine fish stocks are now fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted, confirming a consistent decrease since 1974 in marine fish stocks with little or no potential for further exploitation. Poor fisheries management and inappropriately designed subsidies to fishing industries have been widely recognised as the key economic drivers of overexploitation of fisheries resources by contributing to significant overcapacities of fishing fleets, particularly in developed countries. Large-scale industrial fleets combined with poor or no management have also contributed to secondary pressures on marine resources, such as increased levels of bycatch – that is, species that are caught unintentionally by fishing gear – and the use of destructive fishing practices which harm non-target species and marine ecosystems.
As part of a broader suite of management measures, a number of trade and marketplace measures have been implemented to address some of the sustainability challenges. These measures can be used to pursue a variety of objectives, such as to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by verifying the legitimacy of the catch or traded product; ensure that the import complies with nationally, regionally or internationally set conservation goals; or help the consumer to identify sustainably harvested products. Some Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), for instance, have put in place import bans on fish products managed by the RFMO from countries that have been found to contravene its management arrangements or regulations. At the domestic level, some countries have introduced traceability and labelling schemes for fish and fish products. Marketplace measures, such as eco-labelling schemes or other industry initiatives, aim to provide appropriate market incentives by offering a competitive advantage for sustainably harvested fish products.
However, a number of issues have been raised as to the effectiveness of trade and marketplace measures. It remains unclear to what extent such measures have actually been effective in encouraging sustainable fisheries management and providing a sufficient market advantage and price premium for sustainably harvested fish products. Developing countries in particular lack the capacity to take advantage of market opportunities and to comply with multilateral management requirements. Questions also remain over the compatibility of these measures with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Speculation on the compatibility of these measures has been fuelled by a number of high-profile WTO cases challenging unilateral trade measures used to impose fisheries conservation requirements in other countries. Ongoing negotiations on the relationship between trade-related measures under multilateral environmental agreements and WTO rules – launched in 2001 as part of the Doha round of trade negotiations – could go some way towards clarifying countries’ and RFMOs’ flexibilities to employ trade and marketplace measures for conservation purposes.
As a contribution to these debates, this issue paper – published in the context of the ICTSD project on Fisheries, International Trade and Sustainable Development and the High Seas Task Force– aims to support the use of trade-related fisheries policies and rules that are supportive of sustainable resource management objectives. To this end, Cathy Roheim and Jon Sutinen – a fisheries experts from the University of Rhode Island – describe and assess trade measures currently employed under multilateral fisheries management agreements to promote sustainable fishing, and consider the compatibility of trade measures within fishing agreements with these international obligations. They then go on to look at the role of civil society groups and private sectors in promoting sustainable fishing through marketplace measures. The paper wraps up with a set of conclusions and recommendations for improving and expanding the use of these measures.
We hope that you will find this paper to be stimulating and useful for your work.