Philippines wants end to fisheries subsidies

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the Philippines has encouraged trade and agricultural ministers to speed up negotiations to develop new disciplines to eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, overfished stocks, and overcapacity and overfishing.

The call was made by Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Agriculture Secretary William Dar, according to a DTI statement released on Friday, as they led the Philippine team to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Virtual Trade Negotiations Committee Ministerial-level Meeting last July 15.

Their declaration was released in time for the 12th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC12), which will take place in December of this year, it underscored.

"The Philippines stands together with other members who are committed to deliver an outcome in the fisheries subsidy negotiations ahead of MC12. This will only be possible if there is solid political will and diplomatic flexibility in the negotiations," Lopez was quoted as saying.

The present draft text of the deal, according to the Trade department, contains a carve-out that states that if a banned subsidy occurs in disputed seas, it will not be examined by a WTO panel.

Dar, meanwhile, encouraged WTO members to review the existing phrasing because it will give a loophole for nations interested in maritime disputes to be excused from the restrictions.

"Issues of territorial claims or delimitation of maritime boundaries or zones are of the highest concern for the Philippines but nothing must prohibit a duly constituted panel from hearing a case," Dar stressed.

He also said flexibility and exemptions for poor and vulnerable artisanal fisherfolk in developing and least-developed nations should not be used to create a permanent exemption from effective overcapacity and overfishing management.

The DTI added that dwindling fish stocks threaten to exacerbate poverty and put coastal communities that rely on fishing in jeopardy.

It noted that based on the latest data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, WTO reported that fish stocks are in danger of collapsing in many parts of the world due to overexploitation. Globally, an estimated 34 percent of stocks are overfished, up from 10 percent in 1974, indicating a rate of exploitation at which the fish population cannot replenish itself.

Source: Manila Times