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Fisheries Fisheries

fishing vessels around the world. “Members want to ensure there are strong disciplines on
The greater the number of vessels, the more fishing will transparency.”
take place, leading to over capacity. Technical assistance and capacity building, particularly for
An additional 22% of the subsidies— some US$7.7 billion— developing countries, is also on the agenda.
goes to fuel subsidies, an important operating cost for many The pressure on Pacific negotiators is immense for many
fishing nations. reasons. The Pacific fishery is one of the last remaining
Ambassador Falemaka says that 81% of total global fishery healthy fishery stocks in the world.
subsidies go towards large, industrial fishing fleets with the Furthermore, 44% of all tuna fishery in the world market
remaining 19% left for small-scale fisheries. in 2018 were fished in the Pacific. Over 50% of that Pacific
“We have always underlined that this agreement must de- tuna were from the waters of states that are members of the
liver the SDG mandate to prohibit harmful subsidies. Pacific Islands Forum.
“At the same time, it must provide for special and different So when the world talks about fishing subsidies, the bulk of
meaningful treatment for developing countries, particularly that applies to the waters of Pacific island states.
for small countries like us, as we haven’t got the capacity to A key factor too is that although the Pacific supplies 44% of
fish our own stocks. the world tuna, Pacific states – and this includes Australia and
“We cannot even exploit the healthy stocks that we have New Zealand – own a mere 0.3% of global fishing vessels.
so, we must have meaningful treatment, or the flexibility to The significance of fishing revenues to Pacific island econo-
develop our fishing industry in the future.” mies is top of mind for negotiators like Ambassador Falemaka.
Already, the Pacific NGO, Pacific Network on Globalisa- They need to strike a balance, where the curbs against
tion (PANG) has called out attempts by what it calls, “big harmful subsidies do not scare away the distant water fishing
historical subsidisers” to insert permanent carve outs in the nations’ boats, who are paying important fishing access fees
negotiations in order to continue their subsidies, while plac- to some Pacific island nations annually.
ing restrictions and a disproportionate burden on developing “Actually, these access fee payments fall outside of the
countries, including those in the Pacific. WTO, which is a good thing,” Ambassador Falemaka says.
“The SDG mandate is being ignored in the rush to conclude The importance of subsistence fishing for food security was
an outcome,” said Adam Wolfenden, the trade justice cam- again highlighted during the pandemic, when borders closed,
paigner for PANG. and many Pacific Islanders returned to their rural and coastal
“If this proceeds on its current path, then not only will villages and homes.
those most responsible for overfishing not be held to account, “Only 19% of global subsidies go to small scale fishery, and
but it will punish those communities most vulnerable. for many of our governments, they use very little subsidy,”
“This fails the mandate; sustainability and development,” the Ambassador says.
added Wolfenden. “We would like some flexibility and exemption for artisanal
In an online briefing for Pacific journalists on the state of and small-scale fishery particularly because they provide live-
negotiations in Geneva in mid-October, Ambassador Falemaka lihoods and food security for our coastal communities.”
remarked that a point of contention has been the insistence PANG supports this position, with Wolfenden noting in
by developed nations that also come under the Distant Water a statement earlier this year that: “What is proposed for
Fishing Nations (DWFNs) grouping, that subsidies be continued developing countries is time-bound and largely only applies to
in the high seas, so long as there are fishery management fishing within 12 nautical miles of the coastline.
measures in these waters. “Pacific Island Countries wanting to support small-scale
Such subsidies DWFNs argue, should be acceptable even in fishers or develop greater domestic fleet capacity to fish
cases where overfishing had taken place, for as long as man- their own waters will find it difficult to do that within these
agement measures are in place. constraints.
DWFNs agree that coastal states should continue to offer “Many of them struggle to meet all their existing notifica-
subsidies inside their territorial waters or EEZs, but are at- tion obligations under WTO membership due to lack of capac-
tempting to introduce geographical and time sensitive limita- ity.
tions, a proposal that Pacific Island states in particular have “This pressure to conclude [the WTO negotiations] will
objected to. result in an outcome that sees the livelihoods of small-scale
“Not all subsidies should be prohibited because there are fishers and the sovereign rights of countries to manage their
good subsidies that help our governments to maintain healthy waters sacrificed in order for the WTO to say it is still rel-
stocks or to promote conservation and management,” said evant.
Ambassador Falemaka. “This is the exact reason why the WTO is in crisis - the
“Those subsidies should be allowed, but the harmful subsi- failure to listen to those who are experiencing the real-world
dies which are running down stocks, should be prohibited. consequences of growing inequality and environmental de-
“These are the nuances of the mandate. struction caused by the economic ideals espoused by bodies
“In addition to those main elements, we are also negotiat- like the WTO,” added Wolfenden.
ing a chapter on transparency…there is lack of clarity about
the value of the volume of global subsidies. publisher@islandsbusiness.com

Islands Business, November 2021 43