COFI:FT/VII/2000/9  |
| COFI:FT/VII/2000/9 |
Item 8.2 of the Provisional Agenda |
COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES |
SUB-COMMITTEE ON FISH TRADE |
Seventh Session |
Bremen, Germany, 22-25 March 2000 |
ISSUES OF SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE USE AND INTERNATIONAL FISH TRADE |
1. The COFI Sub-Committee discussed the status of fisheries resources exploitation and its impact on fish trade in its Fifth and Sixth sessions.1 During these Sessions, the Sub-Committee highlighted the importance of sound fisheries management policies for future fish supply. World fish resources should be managed in a sustainable and responsible manner, respecting the fisheries management plans of each member country, in order to provide food for present and future generations. The importance of regional fishery organizations or arrangements as a means for sustainable management of relevant fishery resources was highlighted by the Sub-Committee. Several delegations stressed the risk to their resources through the movement of foreign fleets to their waters and expressed the need for additional technical assistance and cooperation in scientific research and the management of their resources. The present document does not repeat the discussion of the past sessions, but is aimed at concentrating on the potential impact of fish trade on food security.
2. In the next 30 years the world population is expected to increase by 2 thousand million to 8 thousand million people. This also denotes an increasing demand for food and the attention as regards food security is more important than ever before. In this respect, fisheries and aquaculture play an important role in securing food supplies for future generations. The net growth in world population is mainly located in developing countries in which seafood, particularly among poor communities in coastal areas, is a very important source of protein. This makes the aspects of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture use even more important.
3. By 2015 there will be somewhat more than 7 thousand million inhabitants on earth. To provide for an annual fish consumption above 15 kg/person/year, total supply would have to be between 105 and 110 million tons for food. However, in Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America economic growth will continue to encourage increased per caput consumption. At 17 kg/person/year the supply in 2015 would have to be of the order of 120 to 125 million tons for food. The consensus so far seems to be that capture fisheries will not exceed 100 million tons per year. If fishmeal production continues at present levels, some 70 million tons of this total would be available for human food. Applying growth rates in aquaculture production of 2.5% per year to the Chinese production (not including aquatic plants) and 5% per year to the rest of the world, the global production would reach some 55 million tons (again not including aquatic plants) by the year 2015. Adding the capture fishery production of 70 million tons it would be possible to reach the 125 million tons needed to provide 17 kg/person/year in 2015.
4. World trade in fishery commodities, has, during the 1990s, increased by about 40% in terms of value. This is mainly attributed to a strong increase in trade flows from developing countries to developed countries. However, weak demand in Japan due to the economic crisis and a slow economic growth in other developed economies created a decrease in world trade in fishery products in 1997 and 1998. Developing countries account for slightly less than 50% of total seafood trade.
5. During the 1990s developing countries increased their share of global production, mainly through increasing aquaculture production. The revenues from developing countries' exports of high value fish and fishery products often serve to finance imports of cheaper fish species in order to cover the need for animal proteins at the national level.
6. Among the fishery resources managed by developed countries the problem of overexploited fish stocks is prevalent. A recent example is the reduction of certain whitefish stocks in the North-East Atlantic. As regards the Atlantic cod stock managed by Norway and Russia there have been substantial reductions in quotas from 1998 to the year 2000. This demonstrates that sophisticated fishery research does not automatically imply sustainable resource use. The decline in this particular stock comes at a time of worldwide reduction in several other whitefish stocks. This has led to increasing prices and a switch in trade flow of whitefish species towards markets with the capacity to pay.
7. Adjusting fishing capacity in order to obtain maximum sustainable yield is also a matter of obtaining balance in the ecosystem in which the resource exists. Sometimes a decrease in a commercial fish stock arises from lack of feed, but more often from a high level of predation. The pressure is caused by several predators, including the human being. If an increased harvest by humans is desired, there has to be a certain regulation of the competing predators. This controversial issue has frequently been raised in national, as well as in international contexts.
8. Notwithstanding the increased pressure on capture fisheries, increased aquaculture production has contributed to lighten the overall pressure caused by world demand. The world aquaculture production is mainly dominated by developing countries, which produce more than 80% of the total output by volume, and over 70% by value. A large share of this production is consumed domestically. However, in terms of export revenue the culture of shrimps is the most important aquaculture activity in developing countries.
9. Even if increased aquaculture production has lightened the pressure on capture fisheries, aquaculture production in some geographical areas has resulted in the degradation of coastal mangroves and the breeding grounds of many wild fish species. This forms a major threat to biological diversity and future developments in fisheries production and international trade in fishery products. At the same time aquaculture production becomes vulnerable to diseases and environmental problems as the pollution of coastal waters increases. An increasing frequency of fish diseases has also accelerated the debate as regards genetically modified fish. In recent years there has been a considerable debate concerning the implications of producing genetically modified products within the fisheries industry. By accepting gene-technology in aquaculture there may be a potential in, inter alia, generating fish species more resistant to diseases, with a better coefficient of feed utilization and improved growth rates. This will increase the efficiency of aquaculture production. On the other hand the acceptance of gene-technology may be a great threat to the existence of biological diversity in aquatic ecosystems and the goal of sustainable resource use.
10. Sustainable use of fishery resources and its certification has been subject to various initiatives having different objectives and applying different certification criteria. In the simplest case, certification and labelling just seek to provide consumers (or traders) with information on product species and origin. In other cases, a single issue is the certification criterion such as `dolphin safe' tuna. More complex principles and criteria of sustainable fisheries underlie the eco-labelling schemes promoted by, inter alia, the Marine Stewardship Council, the Marine Aquarium Council and the Responsible Fisheries Society of the United States. At the international level, the subject was discussed first at the last Session of this Sub-Committee upon whose recommendation FAO organized the Technical Consultation on the Feasibility of Developing Non-discriminatory Technical Guidelines for Eco-labelling of Products from Marine Capture Fisheries which was held in Rome from 21 to 23 October 1998, with funds provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The Consultation did not reach an agreement regarding the practicability and feasibility of FAO drafting technical guidelines for the eco-labelling of produce from marine capture, but most delegations identified FAO as an appropriate international organization to discuss technical criteria for eco-labelling schemes.
11. During the discussion of the report of the Technical Consultation in the Twenty-third COFI Session in Rome, Italy, 15-19 February 1999, delegates agreed that the issue of eco-labelling could have significant implications for the fishery sectors of Members. Most delegations recommended that FAO should initiate further work on elaborating technical aspects of eco-labelling during the current and future biennia, subject to availability of resources. Other delegations, however, felt that FAO should not get involved in the issue and should leave it to the other specialist bodies. Some delegations also called upon FAO to convene a second open technical consultation on eco-labelling, in accordance with the rules of FAO governing such consultations and called upon the Secretariat to prepare relevant Terms of Reference in consultation with Members. In adopting the report of the Twenty-third Session of COFI, the One-hundred and sixteenth Session of the FAO Council, Rome, Italy, 14 - 19 June 1999, underscored the need to ensure that any eco-labelling scheme was transparent, voluntary, non-discriminatory and that it not be used to restrict trade. The Council recommended that FAO should contribute to the work of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Trade and Environment and other bodies to help ensure that fish trade did not compromise responsible fisheries management. In furtherance of the Council's recommendation, FAO published jointly with IUCN a booklet on Eco-Labelling and Sustainable Fisheries, which describes in a concise manner the present international framework for eco-labelling and examples of current initiatives in the fisheries sector. It also examines the particular concerns and opportunities that eco-labelling may present for fisheries, especially in developing countries and countries in transition, and the rationales for internationally agreed upon technical guidelines.
12. In 1998, FAO was requested by the COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade to investigate the desirability of the Organization undertaking a review of the existing CITES criteria for identifying species considered to be threatened by extinction as they apply to commercially exploited marine species and, if considered desirable, also to consider an appropriate procedure for undertaking such a review. This request arose out of concern from some Members about the appropriateness of the existing CITES criteria as they apply to commercially exploited marine species. In response to this request and with assistance from South Africa, the Fisheries Department of FAO organized an FAO ad hoc Workshop on the CITES Listing Criteria as Applied to Commercially Exploited Marine Species, in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 1998. The meeting was informal and intended only to collect information on the issues and potential approaches. A report was produced from the workshop and recommended a review of the criteria and a process by which this should be done. This report was submitted to COFI in February 1999, and COFI accepted the recommendations of the ad hoc Workshop.
13. Following up on COFI's request, FI initiated a more detailed review of the CITES listing criteria as applied to commercially exploited marine species and contracted three consultants to assist in this activity. A substantial report has now been produced and is undergoing final preparation for printing (February 2000). It will form an information document for a Technical Consultation on the CITES listing criteria which, following the COFI instructions, is scheduled for the end of June 2000. The Technical Consultation will consider the matter and report on it to COFI 2001, possibly recommending to COFI that it should propose to the CITES Secretariat some changes to the listing criteria for commercially exploited species.
14. The elaboration of an International Programme of Action (IPOA) to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing was agreed at the 1999 FAO Ministerial Meeting on Fisheries. A plan should address the issue of how such fishing is to be deterred. However, given the characteristics of different fisheries, including in some cases the high mobility of fleets, and taking account of the distribution of stocks, the IPOA will need to be structured so as to accommodate these differences. Without prejudice to the rights and obligations of States under international law, the IPOA and its application should seek to combat and prevent IUU fishing irrespective of where it occurs.
15. Arrangements for the elaboration of an IUU fishing IPOA are well advanced in FAO. As an initial step an Expert Consultation on IUU Fishing organized by the Government of Australia in cooperation with FAO, will be held in Sydney, Australia, 15-19 May 2000. This Consultation will be followed by an FAO Technical Consultation on IUU Fishing. This Consultation is scheduled to be held at FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy, 2-6 October 2000. It is anticipated that an IPOA on IUU fishing will be presented to COFI, 26 February - 2 March 2001, for review and possible adoption.
16. The Expert Consultation will include discussions on the rationale for using trade related measures to assist in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Such measures have been proposed as a means of curbing fishing activities that undermine management measures agreed by competent national and regional authorities. At the regional level, such measures are already, or in the process of being, adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The discussion is expected to cover the position of developed and developing countries and their views and concerns about the use of such measures, recognizing that they should not be used as disguised trade barriers.
17. About 40% of fish production enters international trade, and there have always been claims that international trade has a negative impact on sustainable resource use. The dramatic decline of the main groundfish stocks over the past decade - Atlantic cod, Alaska pollack, Argentine hake - is giving an indication in this direction, as more than half of this catch is entering international trade in one form or another. Groundfish, though, accounts for only 11% of international trade in value terms. For the other main commodities of international trade (shrimp 18%, tuna 9%, salmon 7%, small pelagics 7% and cephalopods 5%), the problem of overfishing is less present, and in some cases (shrimp and salmon) aquaculture products were responsible for the boom in international trade. In some instances, the decline of a fisheries resource, might have a positive impact on the countries economy, as these countries will intensify efforts to add more value to their products. As described in paper COFI:FT/VII/2000/10, the Common Fund for Commodities, with the assistance of the Fish INFOnetwork and FAO, has carried out various projects in this field. However, the main problem for trade of value-added products from developing countries continues to be the tariff escalation for value-added fishery products in some important markets.
18. The contribution of international trade in fishery products to food security materializes indirectly through higher earnings of fishery product exports and employment created in the processing industry. According to some analysis2 this is not necessarily the case. However, baseline data to assess the impact of fish trade on food security in developing countries is scarce, and more studies have to be carried out in order to assess the impact of fish trade on food security.
19. The importance of fish processing in providing employment, especially for products destined for export markets, has never been studied in detail. In this respect, the research should take into account the fact that women are the main labour force in many fish processing factories, and their role in the processing line increases with the value-addition. In many areas, this is the only employment opportunity for women. The importance of this employment on food security becomes obvious, considering that women tend to use a relatively greater share of their income for the family than men, especially for food purchase.
20. "Fair Trade" is a concern in many developed countries and for many commodities, which tries to ensure that the full benefit returns to the primary producers and thus might be a good way of ensuring that trade in fish products assists in providing food security in developing countries.
21. The Sub-Committee may wish to comment on the impact of fish trade on sustainability of resource use and food security, and express its views regarding the need for further studies in this field, as well as specific action, as may be appropriate for securing the contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security.
1 Documents COFI:FT/V/96/4 and COFI:FT/VI/98/3 and paragraphs 13-16 and paragraphs 12-16 of the respective reports (FAO/FI Rep. FIIU/R542 Tri and FAO/FI Rep. FIIU/R589 Tri) refer.
2 John Kurien: "Does international trade in fishery products contribute to food security?". Discussion note prepared for the FAO e-mail Conference on Fisheries Trade and Food Security, 1999.
