"OCEAN-GRABBING" A THREAT TO FOOD SECURITY, SAYS UN EXPERT

Governments are urged to ensure overfishing does not infringe on small fishing communities’ access to food as a basic right.

By Kanaga Raja
Third World Network Features

            "‘Ocean-grabbing' – in the shape of shady access agreements that harm small-scale fishers, un-reported catch, incursions into protected waters, and the diversion of resources away from local populations – can be as serious a threat as ‘land-grabbing'," according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, quoted in a UN press release of 30 October.

               In order to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food in the fisheries sector, countries should move towards sustainable resource use while ensuring that the rights and livelihoods of small-scale fishers and coastal communities are respected and that the food security of all groups depending on fish is improved, the UN expert has recommended.

               In a report to the 67^th UN General Assembly session in New York, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mr Olivier De Schutter, said: "This is a difficult balance to strike, but, without swift and bold action by States, the contribution made by fisheries to securing the right to food will diminish, with considerable consequences, in particular for poorer rural communities that depend on fisheries for both their nutritional needs and their income."

               "Without rapid action to claw back waters from unsustainable practises, fisheries will no longer be able to play a critical role in securing the right to food of millions," he was further quoted as saying in the press release, adding that "with agricultural systems under increasing pressure, many people are now looking to rivers, lakes and oceans to provide an increasing share of our dietary protein."

               According to the press release, the Rights expert noted that many of the world's waters are fished by distance fleets, and urged the urgent revision of the License and Access Agreements (LAAs) that governs these activities.

               He called for these LAAs to include stronger oversight mechanisms to tackle illegal and un-reported catch; take full account of the role of fisheries and small-scale fishers in meeting local food needs; strengthen labour rights on fishing vessels; and be concluded only on the basis of human rights impact assessments, to be prepared with the assistance of Flag States (states under whose laws commercial vessels are registered or licensed).

               The Special Rapporteur in his report said that fisheries contribute to food security through two pathways: directly, by providing fish for people, especially low-income consumers, to eat, thereby improving both food availability and the adequacy of diets; and indirectly, by generating income from the fisheries sector.

               He noted that the total contribution by fisheries to food consumption has grown substantially over the past 50 years, averaging an increase of more than 3% annually. Global per capita fish consumption stands at some 18.4 kg per annum. In low-income food-deficit countries (excluding China), per capita fish consumption stands at some 10 kg, compared to approximately 29 kg in industrialized countries. Africa has the lowest per capita fish consumption of all continents, at 9.1 kg.

               Globally, fish represents 15% of all animal protein consumed by people, whereas in low-income food-deficit countries, the proportion is higher, at about 20%, and in Asia it is higher still, at about 23 per cent. And 54.8 million people globally are engaged in capture fisheries and aquaculture and approximately three times as many are involved in upstream and downstream activities (e. g. fish processing, selling, net-making and boat-building).

               Small-scale fisheries predominate in developing countries, where most fishing-related employment resides.

               According to De Schutter, maintaining, and in some cases increasing, fish supply can contribute significantly to the realisation of the right to food in many countries, especially where alternative sources of high-quality protein are scarce or unaffordable.

               "As demand for fish increases as a result of population growth and urbanization, however, supply can be matched only by further overfishing (beyond the carrying capacity of stocks) and reliance on industrial fishing methods that have profound environmental impacts…” he said.

               Since the 1950s, the report found that there has been tremendous growth in fishing capacity worldwide, with the number and power of fishing vessels increasing dramatically. Between 1970 and 1990, global fish harvesting capacity grew eight times faster than the rate of growth in landings.

               "Although this trend may have slowed, technological improvements in fishing (including the use of spotter planes, sonar devices and underwater mapping technology, in addition to new fishing gears and improvements in refrigeration and navigation) mean that fishing capacity is bound to continue to grow."

               It has been estimated that, because of overcapacity and technology creep, the capacity of the global aggregate fishing fleet is at least double that needed to exploit the oceans sustainably. Fishing sector subsidies may be contributing to this problem: each year, fisheries subsidies amount to between $30 billion and $34 billion, with $20 billion used to directly support improved fishing capacity, such as fuel and boat-building subsidies.

               The growth of commercial fisheries since the 1950s has meant that commercial fisheries from traditionally powerful fishing entities (the European Union, Japan, North America and the Russian Federation) have been deployed to almost all areas of the globe,  searching for new fishing opportunities as old ones have been exhausted.

               "This geographical displacement has intensified with the rise of new distant-water fishing fleets, such as those of China and the Republic of Korea."

               "Overfishing is but one reason why the current system is unsustainable," said the expert. Although recent technological progress has reduced the environmental impact of industrial fishing, some methods, such as industrial bottom trawling, remain highly destructive and wasteful.

               Other methods, such as high-grading (where fishing boats do not retain catches because of their inferior market value or because the size or species of the catch is prohibited by regulations), also cause significant discards of fish and other marine wildlife. Conservative estimates put average annual discards at some 7.3 million tons, or about 9% of total global production.

               "Reducing the most unsustainable practices is difficult for numerous reasons, including the prevalence of illegal fishing practices, trans-shipment at sea, the targeting and trading of protected species, the use of banned fishing gear and the activities of industrial boats in coastal zones reserved for small-scale fisheries," said the report, pointing out that estimates of the scale of illegal fishing vary considerably, from about $9 billion to $25 billion, or between 10 million and 28 million tons.

               "Although such estimates should be treated with caution, it is clear that, as fish are becoming less abundant, fishing vessels are tempted to evade rules and conservation strategies," De Schutter asserted.

               "In comparison to some industrial fishing methods, small-scale fisheries rarely discard catches and tend to have a much lower impact on aquatic habitats. In many parts of the world, however, the increase in the number of small-scale fishers is causing stress on fish populations."

               A minority of small-scale fishers also uses destructive methods of fishing, such as encroachment into protected areas and the use of dynamite fishing, poisons to catch reef fish and extremely fine nets that are banned because of their impact on juvenile fish. In one report on illegal fishing in West Africa, it is claimed that the scale of illegal/un-reported fishing by the artisanal fishing fleet is of a similar magnitude to that found in the industrial sector.

               The Special Rapporteur also raised concerns over the quality of working conditions in the fish-processing industry, although he noted that conditions have improved since developed countries imposed higher sanitation and hygiene standards.

               He cited a 2004 study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that showed that, for 9 of the 11 countries surveyed, fish workers were paid close to the minimum wage and often received much lower than the average per capita income for the country. In Chile, for example, the area home to most fish processing factories was also the area with the lowest per capita income levels.

               "The employment benefits from the increase of commercial exports must be weighed against the costs. Such an increase may lead to demand-led overfishing and sharpen the competition for resources between industrial and small-scale fishing. Export increases may over time lead to the loss of jobs for fishers in the small-scale sector. In Argentina, for example, the considerable expansion of industrial pelagic fisheries in the 1990s saw the gradual control of those fisheries by foreign-owned fishing enterprises, which displaced smaller, more labour-intensive local companies."

               De Schutter stressed that support should be given to small-scale fishers to enable their entry into global markets under conditions that provide decent employment and allow fishers' cooperatives to expand into the high-added-value stages of the industry. The report further noted that increased trade and licence-related and access-related payments can generate revenue for the developing countries concerned, but the benefits, however, often continue to be shared unequally.

               Among the island nations in the western and central Pacific Ocean, for example, most commercial tuna fishing is managed through bilateral agreements with distant-water fishing fleets. The tuna fisheries are estimated to be worth $3 billion annually, yet local countries receive only some 6% of that amount.

               Research into European Union fisheries agreements conducted in the late 1990s also showed that benefits were unevenly shared. Overall, Union agreements generated more than seven times as much value to European countries (mostly France and Spain) than they did for the host countries.

               A related concern pertains to the considerable under-reporting of catches to host countries, which can lower host country revenue.

               In a study of European fishing in Guinea-Bissau, it was estimated that, not only were catches often misreported, but also substantial amounts of fish and shrimp were caught as by-catch, incurring no fees, and were then sold in Europe. Adjusting for by-catch suggested that Guinea-Bissau received less than 2% of the total value of the fish caught under the agreement.

               "Even where licences and access agreements generate substantial revenue for host countries, the poverty-reducing impacts are ambiguous. Managing foreign industrial fisheries may absorb a significant proportion of the revenue received by Governments. Corruption and embezzlement may result in State fisheries revenue contributing little to economic development, a situation compounded by the confidentiality of many bilateral fisheries agreements and fisheries licence payments."

               De Schutter stressed that the right to food requires that States respect existing access to adequate food and abstain from taking measures that result in reducing such access. States should also refrain from adopting any policy that affects the territories and activities of small-scale, artisanal and indigenous fishers unless their free, prior and informed consent is obtained.

               States also have an obligation to fulfil the right to food, which requires them to act pro-actively to strengthen people's access to and utilisation of resources and means to ensure their livelihoods. The search for arrangements that preserve the long-term (environmental) sustainability of fishing, including by reducing overfishing and conserving fish habitats, while concurrently improving the incomes of small-scale fishing communities, is the key challenge facing Governments in developing strategies that progressively realise the right to food, he adds.

-ends-

About the writer:  Kanaga Raja is the Editor of the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) in Switzerland.

The article is an edited version of an article published in SUNS #7472, 5 November 2012.

When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network Features and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency involved in the article, and give the byline. Please send us cuttings. And if reproduced on the internet, please send the web link where the article appears to twnet@po.jaring.my.

3883/12