WTO and Small-scale Fisheries

1. WTO and Small-scale Fisheries Sebastian Mathew International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF)

2. Doha Round 2001 • Removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers • New negotiations aimed at clarifying and improving WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies • Negotiate the relationship between WTO rules and specific trade obligations under Multilateral environmental agreements

3. Sectoral tariff elimination • WTO members accounting for the largest share of world imports and exports of fish and fish products decide to eliminate tariffs without waiting for smaller supplying countries to take a similar decision • Is movement of tariffs towards zero desirable for fisheries? • Shouldn’t the tariffs be higher for fisheries to put in place management measures?

4. Ongoing debate at the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules • What should be the scope of fisheries subsidies to be negotiated at the WTO? Should SCM Rules address negative trade, environment and development impacts of fisheries subsidies in addition to market distortions?

5. Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, December 2005 • WTO members commit to adopt rules prohibiting fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and that provides effective special treatment for developing countries

6. Current Position of Member Countries • New Zealand and U.S.: subsidies that are capacity and effort enhancing are to be treated as prohibited • Brazil and Argentina: general prohibition of such subsidies but want to apply the S&D clause to developing countries that have not developed their own optimum fishing capacity • Japan and Korea: Only subsidies to IUU fishing vessels are to be treated as prohibited

7. Position on Artisanal Fisheries • Japan (along with Korea and Taiwan) has proposed exemption from WTO disciplines for all subsidies to fishing carried out on vessels below a certain, yet to be specified, size. • New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina proposes exemption to certain categories of artisanal fisheries from WTO subsidies disciplines • India has proposed exempting vessels below 20 m length from WTO subsidies disciplines

8. Fisheries Subsidies in Developing Countries • Welfare of fishing community (housing, sanitation, electricity, drinking water); • Income support to fishers (allowance for lean season/closed season/training period, insurance premia); • Tax preferences (rebates on fuel and other inputs into fishing); • Subsidization of capital costs (e.g. Mechanization/acquisition of fishing craft, gear, engine and other inputs);

9. Fisheries Subsidies in Developing Countries 2 • Subsidies to fisheries infrastructure (fishing harbours; quality control, etc) • Subsidies to fisheries conservation and management (resource assessment, resource enhancement, habitat protection, protection of endangered species, MCS, etc)

10. Potential capacity/effort-enhancing Subsidies • Tax preferences (often recurring) • Subsidies to capital costs • Subsidies to fisheries infrastructure

11. Permitted subsidies • Non-actionable subsidies to include: retraining fishers; improving safety and working conditions; switching over to more selective fishing gear and practices; assistance during natural calamities; scrapping of vessels and withdrawal of capacity; improving product quality; assistance during stock decline due to natural factors; fisheries conservation and management; energy-efficient propulsion techniques; etc.

12. A caveat for consideration • Disciplining production distorting subsidies would broaden the scope of SCM Agreement to look not only at ‘fish and fish products’ but also at ‘fishing methods’ with several implications including link up with MEAs in fisheries

13. Thank you