1. The Sixth Session of the Sub-Committee on Fish Trade of the Committee on Fisheries was held in Bremen, Germany, 3-6 June 1998 at the invitation of the Senate of the Hanseatic City and in conjunction with the trade fair FISCH-’98 International & Seafood Europe. An industry workshop on Seafood Safety, Quality and Import Control complemented the event. The report of the Session is available as document COFI/99/Inf.13.

2. The Sub-Committee adopted a proposal made by South Africa that FAO should initiate a scientific review of the CITES listing criteria as they might apply to large-scale commercially harvested fish species (paragraph 12 and Appendix F of the Report of the Session). An ad hoc group of scientists is expected to review the proposal in November 1998. The conclusion of this group is presented in document COFI/99/6 Suppl.1.

3. On behalf of the Nordic countries, the Norwegian delegation proposed that FAO investigate the feasibility and practicability of developing non-discriminatory, globally applicable technical guidelines for the eco-labelling of products from marine capture fisheries. The Nordic Council of Ministers had offered to cover the cost of such a meeting and the Sub-Committee agreed that FAO should organize a technical consultation on the subject (paragraph 13 and Appendix G of the Report of the Session). The Technical Consultation will be convened in October 1998. A summary of the outcome is provided in document COFI/99/6 Suppl.1. The full report of the Technical Consultation will also be available at the Twenty-third Session of COFI.

4. At the Sub-Committee’s debate, delegations noted that:

• Information on activities related to international fish trade by organizations other than FAO was of interest and reporting should continue. (para. 6*)
• Further assistance was needed in order to build capacity of developing countries in quality assurance and delegates urged those countries implementing stringent health regulations to give technical assistance. (para. 9*)
• Fish in food aid was a means of promoting food security in the spirit of the results of the World Food Summit and delegates from Latin America were interested in promoting joint projects in this field in cooperation with FAO and INFOPESCA. (para. 10*)
  

5. The Sub-Committee noted that:

• The issue of subsidies was being discussed in various fora and that FAO has a role to play in compiling and disseminating information on subsidies at a global level. (para. 17*)
• There was a need for FAO to monitor closely developments in the field of eco-labelling initiatives, so that they be based on objective scientific facts. (para. 19*)
• FAO should monitor developments in biotechnology relevant to fish production and fish trade and in doing so, consult the relevant outputs of other organizations such as UNEP and OECD. It was suggested that FAO should also monitor research being undertaken regarding risk assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). (para. 20*)
• The report on trade in fisheries services was useful and of high quality, and urged FAO to carry out further studies. (para. 21*)
• FAO should investigate further both property and access rights in fisheries, as well as the rationale for the charging of resource rents. Several members proposed that the work should include studies on benefits of processing the catch in plants located in the coastal country. (para. 22*)

6. The Sub-Committee endorsed the elements for a draft strategy for the development of fishery commodities and requested the Secretariat to finalize the document and submit it to the Common Fund for Commodities. (para. 23*)

7. The Sub-Committee agreed to hold the Seventh Session in conjunction with the seafood fair to be held in the year 2000 in the Federal State of Bremen, Germany.

8. The Committee is invited to endorse the report of its Sub-Committee and provide guidance with regard to the issues contained in paragraphs 2 and 3.

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* Report of the Session