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June 4, 1997
Need For Subsidies Reform in the Fishing Sector Confirmed | |
Geneva, Switzerland -- A 2-day workshop organized by WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on "The Role of Trade Policies in the Fishing Sector," focussing primarily on subsidies, was concluded here yesterday. The meeting established a clear link between the tens of billions of dollars of subsidies paid to the fishing sector annually, the resulting overcapacity in the industry and the problem of global fisheries depletion. "Subsidies are similar to a cancer and it's as if we are at a congress of surgeons who specialize in cancer treatment," said Mr. Claude Martin, Director-General of WWF International, "now we are in the phase of identifying how the cancer can be excised without the patient dying." Participants at the workshop expressed the need for rapid government action to cut fishing subsidies which deplete this natural resource and seriously damage marine ecosystems. They proposed a number of policy options for addressing this problem, including closer collaboration between intergovernmental organizations such as FAO, UNEP, UNCTAD OECD and the WTO. Subsidies to the fisheries sector will be addressed in a number of fora in the near future, including the September 1997 meeting of the WTO's Committee on Trade and Environment, and the FAO will examine the link between subsidies and fishing fleet overcapacity during their February 1998 experts workshop on the issue. Other recommendations of the meeting included:
The workshop called for collaboration between nations, environment and development NGOs and industry in forging solutions to the subsidies problem. "Reducing subsidies is consistent with both conservation and trade liberalization," said Mr. Hussein Abaza of UNEP, "A package of policy approaches is necessary to maintain the sustainability of global fisheries". UNEP and WWF plan to continue collaborative efforts to address this and other issues confronting world fisheries. For further information contact: Someshwar Singh of WWF at +4122 364 9553 or Deborah Vorhies of UNEP at +4122 979 9288, or Gertrud Attar at +4122 979 9234.
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