Saving Seafood

The Fate of the WTO and Global Trade Hangs on Fish

May 6, 2020 — The World Trade Organization (WTO) is struggling to maintain its relevance. Protectionism has been rising for more than a decade as a growing number of countries have openly flouted WTO rules. Many are having second thoughts about the wisdom of allowing China into the organization, where it retains special developing-economy rights that help shield its domestic economy from foreign competition. Recent trade agreements have been bilateral or regional, undermining the WTO’s purpose of maintaining a global trading order. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, impediments to trade are only expected to grow.

This sorry state of affairs in the global trading order is mirrored in the lack of progress in the only major global trade negotiations still actively underway—WTO talks intended to impose discipline on fisheries subsidies, which have led to depleted fish stocks in the world’s oceans. These talks have been going on for nearly two decades, have missed yet another deadline, and seem to be in limbo.

The obstacle standing in the way of a meaningful agreement is not just the reluctance of countries to give up subsidies. It also does not help that a deal requires unanimous approval of every clause and stipulation by all 164 WTO member countries—including landlocked ones without a marine fishing fleet, such as Hungary, Mongolia, and Mali. At the root of the fisheries problem, however, lies the WTO’s own preferred negotiating approach: As long as the WTO continues to approach trade using two different sets of rules—one for developed countries, the other for developing ones—the fisheries talks are all but certain to continue to produce only irreconcilable conflict.

Fish do not respect territorial boundaries. Overfishing, which continues to deplete fish stocks worldwide despite decades of attempts to make fishing sustainable, is by definition a global problem requiring a global solution. An estimated 37 percent of all the seafood produced in the world is traded internationally—which makes the WTO the logical forum to take the lead in finding a solution.

Read the full story at Foreign Policy

Brexit trade talks face collapse unless EU abandon demands for continued access to UK fishing waters

May 1, 2020 — Brexit trade negotiations face collapse unless the EU abandons its demands for continued access to UK fishing waters, sources close to the talks have said.

Brussels has called for EU boats to keep access under “existing conditions” as a price for the free trade agreement being negotiated by the two sides. The UK insists any fishing agreement must be separate from the trade deal with access negotiated annually in a similar fashion to Norway’s agreement with the bloc.

A UK source close to the negotiations said that the EU’s red line would need to change, otherwise the talks could be terminated in June.

“There are some fundamentals that we’re not going to change, nor going to move on. Because they are not so much negotiating positions as they’re sort of what an independent state does” the source said.

Read the full story from The Telegraph at Yahoo News

China cites historical precedent in resisting WTO talks on ending fishing subsidies

April 28, 2020 — Historical subsidization of the fleets of developed countries have become a stumbling block for Chinese negotiators during World Trade Organization talks on ending harmful fishery subsidies.

The talks have dragged into 2020 despite an effort by negotiators to culminate a deal by the end of 2019, and have been further delayed due to complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

WTO fishing subsidies deal pushed to end of year as discord divides main players

April 23, 2020 — Discord amongst the world’s major fishing powers is continuing to hold up a World Trade Organization agreement on fishing subsidies.

A WTO ministerial meeting set for June in Kazakhstan was seen as the deadline for a deal, but that has now been postponed after a WTO staff member tested positive for COVID-19, and also due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

WTO fishery subsidy negotiations stumble, drag into 2020

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.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Curbs on fisheries subsidies debated at WTO meeting

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.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Study: Technological creep doubles commercial fishing capacity every 35 years, pressuring stocks

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.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US to hit EU with USD 7.5 billion in tariffs; mussels, clams among seafood products affected

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.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

High Stakes for China as WTO Fishing Subsidies Cap Looms

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.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

U.S. consumers sue Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, StarKist over ‘dolphin-safe’ tuna claims

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.

Read the full story at Reuters