Fisheries discussion Question 1
Target 14.4: By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics.
Discussion Questions:
- What are the challenges faced in your community, country, or region, or from the perspective of your organization, in achieving Target 14.4?
- What do you see as the priority actions which we can all rally around in global 'Calls for Action' in achieving Target 14.4?
- Please share below any innovative partnerships aimed at achieving Targets 14.4 - existing or proposed - that you are aware of or involved in that can be highlighted at the June Ocean Conference and that can advance effective actions from local to global levels.
Michael Batty said:
This submission is made by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries, and is based on advice that we we have been providing to six Pacific Island members of WTO with respect to their interests in the regional tuna fishery.
1. What are the challenges faced in your community, country, or region, or from the perspective or your organization, in achieving Target 14.6?
Small island developing states have a clear interest in seeing fisheries subsidies disciplined and we believe this ‘low ambition’ target is fully achievable. We acknowledge the huge waste of resources globally in subsidising fishing on stocks which would otherwise be left to recover (the ‘sunken billions’), and we cannot compete with the big subsidisers in terms of financial resources. The southern longline fishery in our region has already seen domestic vessels driven out of business by subsidised competition. However, the definition of subsidies is broad, and we are wary of two things in seeking to achieve this target:
(i) There is a need to preserve policy space to support the development of a domestic industry in a region that suffers many inherent economic disadvantages. While this would not target overfished stocks, the fisheries are multi-species and we are cautious of language which would prohibit subsidies for any fishery which impacts on by-catch species which may be subject to overfishing;
(ii) While supporting improved transparency, as countries with small administrations and limited resources, we are opposed to reporting mechanisms that will impose a large administrative burden on countries that only provide very small subsidies.
2. What do you see as the priority actions which we can all rally around in global 'Calls for Action' in achieving Target 14.6?
Agreement in the WTO Ministerial meeting in December this year.
3. Please share below any innovative partnerships aimed at achieving Targets 14.6 - existing or proposed - that you are aware of or involved in that can be highlighted at the June Ocean Conference and can advance effective actions from local to global levels.
Pacific Island countries have been broadly supportive of the proposals advanced by the ACP group and the LDC group in WTO; but have also engaged with New Zealand of the ‘Friends of Fish’ (and a fellow FFA member). There is a convergence of support for action on this issue – with only a few large subsidisers still opposing measures that would go some way towards achieving the SDG target. Hopefully a compromise can be reached.
Garima Prakash said:
I think it will be important for negotiators to define a 'subsidy'. Prohibiting or restricting only 'specific subsidies' [as per the concept of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures in the WTO] may not achieve the target. Even non-specific subsidies that contribute to overfishing, overcapacity, IUU fishing are responsible for the unsustainability of fisheries.
Another approach may be to introduce these prohibitions/restrictions in stages. So for the first leg of implementation, only specific subsidies are considered, followed by all subsidies contributing to overfishing, overcapacity, IUU fishing.
Roger Martini replied:
Hi Garima,
Your point on specificity is a good one. As you note, the WTO discussions concern specific subsidies, and even there the scope of the intended diciplines are unclear. OECD data (oe.cd/FSE) show that once you strip out important policies that are commonly considered non-specific, such as fuel tax policies, and those that are considered generally benign, such as management and infrastructure, there are less than USD 1 billion in subsidies potentially impacted by the SDG 14.6 goal. That is much less than the USD 35 billion number that is frequently cited (Sumaila 2016 in Marine Policy) and probably not enough to secure a meaningful improvement in outcomes in fish stocks, fishing capacity and overfishing.
That means countries will have to face up to the possibility that SDG 14.6 as currently understood may not be effective at achieving its objectives and that more has to be done by looking at which policies most strongly effect fisheries and not only those considered to be "fisheries policies".
Roger Martini said:
Hi Joe,Thanks for kicking off the discussion. I may not answer your questions directly but I want to start with a point around which I have observed a bit of confusion. SDG 14.6 calls for, among other things, a prohibition of certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing. This need not imply that countries have to eliminate support to their sectors, or even reduce it significantly. That kind of reform can be politically difficult to achieve.There are lots of reasons to believe that support can be delivered to the fishing sector in ways that have much lower negative impacts on overcapacity and overfishing, while at the same time achieving their objectives more effectively and efficiently. In the long term, improved policy efficiency will deliver savings to governments, but in the meantime governments need not see 14.6 as reducing their ability to set and meet objectives for their fisheries and to offer support to fishers.The OECD is working on identifying in a rigorous way how different forms of support affect overcapacity and overfishing, and how they benefit fishers as well. We will be sharing the results of this research over the course of 2017 and 2018, along with advice as to how governments can create pathways to beneficial reforms of their fishing sectors.Cheers,Roger
Joe Zelasney said:
Welcome to the online forum on Partnership Dialogue 4, “Making Fisheries Sustainable,” in advance of the SDG-14 Ocean Conference that will take place in June of this year. We are very pleased to be moderating this discussion and look forward to hearing from you - governments, UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, NGOs, civil society organizations, academic institutions, the scientific community, private sector, philanthropic organizations and other actors.
In particular, we’re interested in receiving contributions on how the global community can achieve Target 14.6: prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to 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 World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation.
To help guide and structure the conversation we’ve proposed the following three questions:
This forum will remain open until 7 April. Summaries of the responses will be compiled at the end of the discussion period and posted on the platform.
Your voice matters! Make it count as the global community converges in June 2017 to commit to action to realize Sustainable Development Goal 14 to sustain Life Below Water for our and future generations!