Market accessTrade Relationships and AgreementsExport controlsNZ Inc Country and Regional StrategiesAPECEASNZ and the WTODohaImproving access to marketsStrengthening trade rulesTrade IssuesOECDTrade and economic analysisTrade lawTrade scholarships
Enter the country or territory for the information paper you want. (We do not have information papers on all countries.)
Although we have tried to use plain English content on the site, you may come across specialist terms and acronyms. Find out what they mean in our glossary of terms.
If you come across a term that isn't included in the Glossary please send us an email.
- Chair, we deliver this statement as coordinator of the Friends of Fish, on behalf of the following countries (the Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand Norway, Peru and the United States):
- While the Chair’s 2007 text remains the basis of our negotiations, the Friends of Fish look forward to discussion based on the questions in the Roadmap. Chair, based on your agenda for this meeting, our statement will focus on the Prohibition and General Exceptions.
- We should begin with a restatement of the magnitude of the challenge that we face: the FAO 2008 State of World’s Fisheries report indicates that the proportion of fish stocks either overexploited, depleted or recovering from depletion has increased in the last two years to 28%. The relationship between over-capacity and IUU fishing has been highlighted in the FAO, the UN General Assembly and regional fora.
- This is not just a question of resource management or the environment. It is also a question of economics: The World Bank, in its 2008 report entitled “Sunken Billions”, estimates that the economic losses in the global marine fisheries industry, resulting from inefficiencies (including subsidies) and overfishing add up to US$50 billion per year – that’s $2.2 trillion over the last 30 years.
- It is also a question of development and livelihoods in developing countries. The livelihoods of many vulnerable communities depend inter alia on our achieving effective disciplines on those subsidies which have the effect of further depleting the fish stocks on which those communities depend.
- We have been instructed to do our part to address this challenge by strengthening disciplines on subsidies in the fishing sector, including the prohibition of certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, while ensuring developing countries have appropriate S&D.
- Friends of Fish are committed to giving effect to the Ministerial decision in Hong Kong that we agree to strong disciplines based on an effective prohibition. We are prepared to work with the approach suggested in the November 2007 text. In response to the questions in the Roadmap, Chair, we will explain, again, why the subsidies proposed for inclusion in Article I.1 contribute to overcapacity and overfishing and, accordingly, must be prohibited. We note also that this list of prohibited subsidies is not closed.
- Article I.2 is also a critical element in responding to the over-fishing issue we have been tasked with addressing.
- We recognise, however, that some Members do not share our assessment of how the mandate to strengthen disciplines on subsidies in the fishing sector should be achieved. In light of the evidence presented above and our mandate, we believe the time has now come for those Members to provide specific reasons as to why they consider that the subsidies listed in Article I.1 do not contribute to overcapacity or overfishing and therefore should not be prohibited, and why they believe subsidies should not be prohibited where fish stocks are ‘unequivocally overfished’.
- General exceptions, if any, must be targeted and limited.
- We recognise the importance of effective fisheries management as a complement to effective disciplines on fisheries subsidies, and as a requirement for any exceptions in Article II. However, in dealing with over-capacity and over-fishing issues, fisheries management cannot be a substitute for effective disciplines on subsidies.
- As already highlighted, Friends of Fish support effective and appropriate S&DT for developing countries. We look forward to working at future meetings to formulate appropriate S&D exceptions including defining how fisheries management requirements would apply to those exceptions.
- This is not an exhaustive statement of our shared views. This will be apparent from our individual interventions in response to the questions in the Roadmap.
Thank you.
