Fisheries subsidies
Slim chance for Pacific victory at WTO conference
CHANCES are slim for a Pacific win at the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (M13) underway in Abu Dhabi, UAE as the world’s biggest subsidisers fend off concerted efforts from Pacific countries to push for the inclusion of control and management of fishery subsidies in the text of the new WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
In a media conference via zoom with Pacific journalists yesterday, Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica, who had been appointed by WTO’s Pacific Trade ministers to lead negotiations at MC13, said the Pacific camp “is fighting hard to get the WTO to listen to the voice of the Pacific”.
“It is clear that in this meeting, the big fishery subsidisers are influencing a lot of the negotiations and as the Pacific, as the owner of 50 per cent of global (tuna) stock, we feel that we are as big as some of these subsidisers because we hold one of the world’s greatest resources.”
He said as custodians, the Pacific bloc is concerned with how the Pacific fishery has been managed.
“Right now we are not giving up even though we feel that our voices are not being heard.
We are still in the process of negotiations and we continue to advocate,” Mr Kamikamica said.
“A lot of overfishing has occurred in other jurisdictions and the Pacific is actually doing its best to preserve its resources.
“The fingerprints of a few companies’ narrow interests can be seen in the watered-down text. Taxpayers are paying for these distorted outcomes.
“These narrow interests are scuppering the only chance of achieving a WTO agreement that might achieve meaningful change,” he said.
When asked if the Pacific ministers had a Plan B if things don’t go their way, Mr Kamikamica said Distant Water Fishing Nations fishing in Pacific waters would “need to be put on notice”.
“We will not accept them coming in and subsidising every fishing companies fishing in the Pacific without some control. Ultimately something we’re seriously looking at as trade ministers is the creation of our own Pacific fleet in what is now becoming clear that the larger nations are controlling how things are being done.”
Major countries support their fishing industries through subsidies that come in many forms such as fuel subsidies for their fishing fleets and reduced boat building costs.
These subsidies are in turn seen as harmful as they encourage overfishing and environmentally damaging fishing activities such as bottom trawling and distant water fishing.
According to WTO, “government funding for subsidies is currently estimated at $US35billion ($F78b) a year globally, of which some $US22b ($F49b) increases the capacity to fish unsustainably”.
A 2019 study published in Marine Policy named China, the European Union, the United States, South Korea and Japan as the world’s top subsidisers, according to Reuters.