TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jul21/12)
14 July 2021
Third World Network

CSOs urge ministers to safeguard interests of small-scale fishers
Published in SUNS #9387 dated 14 July 2021

Geneva, 13 Jul (D. Ravi Kanth) – Many international civil society organizations (CSOs) on 13 July urged trade ministers to ensure that the ongoing negotiations on fisheries subsidies at the World Trade Organization deliver on the development aspirations of small-scale fishing communities while targeting the big subsidizers who are responsible for the depletion of global fish stocks.

In their press release issued two days before the virtual ministerial meeting on 15 July, the CSOs expressed grave alarm over the manner in which the proposed disciplines in the chair’s draft consolidated text are being crafted in support of the big subsidizers to continue with their industrial-scale fishing, while severely limiting the special and differential treatment (S&DT) sought to be provided to small-scale fishing communities in developing and least- developed countries.

On 2 July, the WTO director-general Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the chair of the Doha Rules negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills from Colombia, posed two questions to trade ministers.

The first question seeks approval from the trade ministers to consider the chair’s latest draft consolidated text as the basis for negotiating the final disciplines on fisheries subsidies, while the second question is on limiting special and differential treatment to the most poor and vulnerable fishers in the developing and least-developed countries.

Significantly, the DG and the chair did not even mention the special carve-outs allegedly being provided to the big subsidizers such as the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Canada among others to continue with their industrial-scale fishing subject to some unverifiable marine management programs, said people familiar with the two questions (see SUNS #9382 dated 7 July 2021).

The DG and the chair repeatedly claimed in their letter to the trade ministers that the proposed disciplines in the chair’s draft text are based on the mandate provided in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6 and the Buenos Aires ministerial declaration.

The UN SDG 14.6 has mandated WTO members to, by 2020, “prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to IUU [illegal, unreported, and unregulated] fishing, and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation.”

Yet, in the chair’s latest draft text issued on 30 June, the proposed disciplines in the crucial overcapacity and overfishing pillar have failed to live up to the UN SDG 14.6, said several WTO members, who preferred not to be quoted.

Also, the disciplines did not evenly treat S&DT for developing and least-developed countries as per the mandate.

It is in this context that the CSOs from around the world called on trade ministers “to ensure that negotiations on fisheries subsidies at the World Trade Organization (WTO) don’t undermine the development aspirations of small-scale fishing communities and developing countries – but target those most historically responsible for the state of global overfishing”.

The CSOs, which include the Third World Network, argued that “the current text of the negotiations is providing permanent loopholes for the big subsidizers while cutting off the ability of developing countries to develop domestic fishing industries to fish their own waters.”

“The talks need to be targeting the big subsidizers instead of the ability of countries to develop their own fisheries,”said Adam Wolfenden, Campaigner for the Pacific Network on Globalisation.

The CSOs expressed grave concern over the “asymmetrical” disciplines in the chair’s draft text, saying that “as negotiations progress, there is concern that the most vulnerable communities will be adversely impacted by the agreement.”

“It is unacceptable that under the current text, subsidies for small-scale fishers in developing countries are allowed only if they operate within 12 nautical miles, a limit that small-scale fishers voluntarily or involuntarily cross,” the CSOs contended.

“Applying such measures will bar small-scale fishers from access to critical government subsidies” and “more so, the decision will be reached through negotiations which have excluded engagement of small-scale fishers,” said Margaret Nakato, Coordinator of the Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) in Uganda, and Executive Director of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF).

Speaking on behalf of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), Naseegh Jaffer from Masifundise, South Africa, and who was also the former General Secretary of WFFP, said, “how can subsidies for small-scale fishers or what the WTO calls low-income, resource-poor fishers doing livelihood fishing in developing countries be time-bound? We do not stop being low-income and resource-poor within a span of 2 or 5 years, but this is what the WTO is planning to allow us under its three pillars of negotiations. On the other hand, the large subsidizing nations are extracting permanent concessions for themselves”.

The CSOs argued that “while marine conservation is a very important objective for us, we also recognize the importance of striking the right balance between conservation of marine resources and ensuring economic opportunities for small-scale fishers.”

“The WTO is heading towards a double disaster with its current text. The conservation objective cannot be met as the large subsidizers with industrial fleets are securing reverse special and differential treatment (SDT) for themselves while small-scale fishers in developing countries are going to be wiped out as actual SDT is squeezed to the minimum,” said Mageswari Sangralingam, Honorary Secretary, Friends of the Earth (SAM) Malaysia.

Marthin Hadiwinata, National Coordinator of Marine and Ecology Justice (EKOMARIN) based in Indonesia, stated that “the subsidy prohibition that will be set by the WTO must not limit archipelagic countries to provide subsidies to small-scale fisher-folk both in fishing activities in archipelagic waters and across territorial water boundaries.”

“Because being a small-scale fisher-folk is not only an economic profession, but it is a culture and tradition that has been passed down for generations by the people of Indonesia as the biggest archipelago nation. In addition, SDT provisions should apply to developing and least developed countries, it cannot only be given a period of 2-5 years, but SDT is an exception provision that should be given to developing countries and LDCs,” said Hadiwinata.

“Special and Differential Treatment is a central part of these negotiations and is something that historically developing countries have had to fight for. The attempts to reduce that to minimal time and geographical bound carve-outs for a subset of small-scale fishers undermines the concept that what was mandated by leaders to be appropriate and effective. The current proposals are neither,” said Wolfenden.