Commission urges WTO to ban fishing subsidies

Date: 24/04/03

By David Cronin

Subsidies designed to increase the amount of fish which vessels catch would be banned under a new European Commission proposal to the World Trade Organization.

In a paper tabled on 22 April to the Geneva-based WTO, the Commission argues there is "a mismatch between fishing capacity and available resources" and this needs to be addressed through eliminating subsidies which "enhance capacity".

Those include aid to build new boats or modernise existing vessels so that they can take larger amounts of fish on board.

However, the Commission argues that subsidies aimed at slashing capacity or mitigating the socio-economic hardship caused by restructuring should be allowed.

Measures which could attract aid would include re-training of unemployed fishermen for other jobs and payments to fishermen who are prevented from working due to natural disasters or temporary closure of fishing areas.

The Commission also argues that "limited subsidies" could be allowed to improve safety or working conditions on vessels, provided this would not be used to increase the size of catches.

Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said the proposal is in line with the decision about reforming the EU's own fisheries support regime taken by the Council of Ministers in December 2002.

"In its internal reform, the EU recognised the link between subsidies and the over-capacity which exists in the fisheries sector and that measures need to be taken to ensure a balance between the fishing fleets and resources available," Lamy added. "The solution to deal with this problem is simple - the complete ban of all subsidies which enhance capacity."

Data collected by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that Japan is by far the biggest spender on fishing subsidies at more than €2 billion per year. The Japanese figure is roughly twice the level which the EU and US each allocate to their fleets.

Subsidies designed to increase the amount of fish which vessels catch would be banned under a new European Commission proposal to the World Trade Organization.