December 18, 2019 — The World Trade Organization’s negotiations to phase out fishery subsidies ended inconclusively before the holiday season.
The most recent round of negotiations, held behind closed doors at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, ended without an agreement once again, after years of efforts. The talks have effectively been ongoing since 2001, but were scheduled to conclude by the end of 2019 to meet the United Nations’ 2020 Sustainable Development Goals.
December 3, 2019 — India and several other developing countries have challenged a potential agreement on fisheries subsidies currently being negotiated at the World Trade Organization, according to a 1 December report from The Hindu BusinessLine.
WTO members are working on an agreement to curb fisheries subsidies that lead to overfishing and destruction of marine life. The pact was supposed to be signed at the next ministerial meeting in June 2020. However, several areas of disagreement between developed and developing countries still exist, especially regarding an extension of the effective special and differential treatment (S&DT) provisions and exclusions. These provisions would give developing countries flexibility to subscribe to less onerous reduction commitments compared to richer countries.
November 25, 2019 — A recent study undertaken by researchers from the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Sea Around Us initiative showed that new technology has allowed commercial fishing fleets to double their fishing capacity every 35 years, which in turn increases the pressure on dwindling fish stocks.
The researchers examined more than 50 studies related to an increase in catching power, and concluded that the introduction of, for example, GPS, fish finders, echo-sounders, and acoustic cameras has led to an average 2 percent yearly increase in vessels’ capacity to capture fish.
October 3, 2019 — The United States will impose tariffs valued at USD 7.5 billion (EUR 6.8 billion) against the European Union in what it says is a response to E.U. subsidies to aerospace firm Airbus that broke World Trade Organization rules.
The WTO approved the tariffs on 2 October, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has said they will come into force as early as 18 October. They include 10 percent tariffs on Airbus parts and 25 percent duties on other goods, including some food products. A majority of the products on the list are luxury food products such as cheese, olives, and wine. In the category of seafood, prepared or preserved mussels, clams, cockles, razor claims, and molluscs all will be hit with 25 percent tariffs, according to a list released by the USTR.
July 8, 2019 — As the World Trade Organisation confronts a deadline this year to reach an agreement to eliminate subsidies that are decimating global fish populations, perhaps no nation faces higher stakes than China.
China operates the planet’s largest fishing fleet, catches the most seafood and hands out the most money in fuel subsidies and other support that enables industrial trawlers to travel to the furthest reaches of the ocean. As a result of the expansion of global fishing fleets to meet rising demand, 33% of fish populations are being harvested at biologically unsustainable levels while 90% are fully exploited, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Researchers in 2016 pegged total annual fishing subsidies at US$35 billion (in 2009 dollars). They categorised US$20 billion of those incentives as harmful with as much as 85% of that money going to industrial fishing operations. A 2018 study found that in the absence of US$4.2 billion in subsidies, more than half of high seas fishing would be unprofitable. Furthermore, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Spain account for 80% of fishing outside territorial waters. Researchers estimate that China alone was responsible for 21% of high seas fishing in 2014 and nearly 19% of global fish catch averaged between 2014 and 2016.
In 2001, the WTO formally recognised the need to reform fishing subsidies and member nations four years later called for the abolition of incentives that contribute to overfishing. Negotiations languished for a decade but took on new urgency in 2015 after the UN adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Among them was SDG 14.6, which calls for the prohibition by 2020 of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity, overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Still, WTO’s last biennial meeting in December 2017 ended without an agreement on fishing subsidies. However, the 164 WTO member states, which must approve decisions by consensus, did agree to redouble efforts to reach an agreement by the end of 2019.
This year, negotiators have been meeting monthly at WTO headquarters in Geneva to try to break the stalemate. An agreement to ban fishing subsidies would have a profound impact on ocean health and national economies. Unlike other international agreements, such as the Paris accord on climate change, WTO actions are binding and carry the weight of law.
May 14, 2019 — U.S. consumers sued Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist, accusing the country’s three major packaged-tuna brands of deceiving them into thinking their tuna is caught only through “dolphin-safe” fishing practices.
The proposed class actions filed on Monday said the defendants employ fishing techniques that kill or harm dolphins, and do not always use safer, costlier pole-and-line and other methods used by such rivals as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
The consumers said this makes the defendants’ dolphin-safe labels false and misleading, violating the laws of several U.S. states including California, Florida, New Jersey and New York.
They also said StarKist violated federal racketeering law through its alleged dealings with foreign fishing companies.
Concern about dolphin safety “makes tuna fish consumers no different from Hindus attributing zero value to beef products, or vegans attributing zero value to animal products, or vegetarians attributing zero value to meat, fish, and poultry,” the complaints said.
StarKist said it does not discuss pending litigation, but would not buy tuna “caught in association with dolphins.” It also condemned “indiscriminate fishing methods” that trap dolphins along with the intended catch.
May 3, 2019 — A new twist in a decade-long trade war over airplanes could crimp one of Alaska’s most lucrative fisheries: The European Union is threatening new import taxes on Alaska pollock.
The tariffs stem from a feud over government support for the American company Boeing and European company Airbus. Earlier this year, the World Trade Organization issued separate rulings that said both companies have received illegal subsidies.
In response, both the U.S. and EU last month proposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of the other’s exports.
The potential effects underscore the global nature of the market for Alaska fish products, of which Europe and Asia are big consumers.
The proposed EU tariffs on pollock would hit the largest market for fillets of the Bering Sea whitefish. European processors turn blocks of frozen pollock into fish sticks and fish pies; more than $250 million in exports go to Europe each year, or a little less than 20% of the $1.4 billion value of the total annual pollock catch.
April 18, 2019 — A public consultation on a preliminary list of products from the United States on which the European Union may take countermeasures, in the context of the ongoing Boeing dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has been published by the European Commission (EC).
The proposed tariffs are in response to the long-running dispute over subsidies paid by the United States to airplane-maker Boeing and by Europe to Airbus.
A range of U.S. exports into the E.U. are covered by Brussels’ list – from aircrafts to chemicals and agri-foods. In total, these goods are estimated at around USD 20 billion (EUR 17.7 billion).
In terms of seafood, the many products currently listed for additional import duties if they are originating in the United States include frozen Atlantic, Danube, and Pacific salmon, frozen albacore and yellowfin tuna, frozen cod and Alaska pollock, frozen and live lobster, frozen coldwater shrimp, scallops, and squid.
In a statement, E.U. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that European companies must be able to compete on fair and equal terms.
March 28, 2019 — The pressure is on this month as negotiators seek to find common ground and to advance the cause of a World Trade Organization agreement on fishery subsidies by the end of the year.
The WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo has said subsidies by member states for fuel have contributed to overfishing, and illegal and unregulated fishing. He called it “one of the important issues of our time.”
An estimated USD 20 billion (EUR 17.8 billion) is paid out annually to subsidize the cost of fuel that allows vessels to operate thousands of miles from home. The bulk of the subsidies are paid out by a handful of nations, and around 85 percent of the figure goes to large-scale industrial fleets, rather than smaller near-shore artisanal fisheries.
The pressure was ramped up in 2015 when all United Nations member states agreed Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 to eliminate or prohibit harmful fishery subsidies by 2020. The goal was a priority for developing countries depending on the sea for protein.
There are some reasons for optimism – the WTO director general told a WTO plenary in February that progress had been made in the negotiations among the technocrats. But he said now is time for high-level political commitment to get the deal done.
January 25, 2019 — Negotiations amongst World Trade Organization member nations over the elimination of fisheries subsidies have intensified, according to a WTO announcement made at the tail end of 2018. WTO member states face a mandate of achieving an agreement by the end of 2019, in time to announce the agreement at the 2020 Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan.
One of the linchpins of any deal will be China, the world’s biggest fishing country by volume. Thus far, China has shown a willingness to negotiate, even making concessions to limit the country’s international fishing fleet to its 2016 level and to reduce fuel subsidies for its trawlers by 40 percent on 2015 levels.
But China’s cut to trawler subsidies only applies only to those vessels engaged in fishing within China’s own waters – not abroad. And broadly, China’s general alignment with the agreement stands in stark contrast to its continued efforts to build giant processing and distribution hubs for its distant-water catches.
Chinese Vice Minister for Agriculture Qu Dong Yu, who was in Argentina for the last WTO Ministerial Conference in 2017, appears to be straddling both sides of the issue. While he negotiated the concessions on fishery subsidies (though a larger agreement was not reached due to objections from India and China over the scale and timing of subsidy cuts), he also appears to support China’s distant-water fishing efforts. While he was in Argentina, he showed support for the industry by touring vessels owned by Shanghai Fisheries Group, Dalian Hua Feng and the well-known fishing and seafood distribution conglomerate Zhejiang Da Yang Shi Jia (Ocean Family). The vessels included red shrimp catch-processors and squid liners.