|
Published twice
each year
printed version ISSN 0967 - 5795
Free to all EAFE members
Subscription for non-members
10 EUR per year (including p&p)
August 1999 No. 13 |
 |
Conference Reports
- Management of Straddling and
Highly Migratory Fish Stocks
-
The Centre for Fisheries
Economics in Bergen arranged a conference on the management of straddling
and highly migratory fish stocks May 19-21.
The United Nations Conference
on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks held its concluding session
in December 1995. The United Nations agreement arising from the Conference
is now up for ratification. It is only a matter of time before it will be
ratified by the required number of states and becomes part of international
treaty law.
The process of implementing
the law is now underway. It remains to be seen whether the Agreement will
offer an effective instrument for managing transboundary fishery resources
that are found both within coastal state EEZ and the adjacent high seas.
If the Agreement proves ineffective, the consequences could be severe, both
for resource conservation and for the future of the United Nations Convention
of the Law of the Sea.
The Bergen Conference focussed on the management of straddling and
highly migratory fish stocks, with case studies from different parts of
the world. Recognition was also given to the experiences from managing transboundary
fishery resources shared by two or more coastal states.
About 60 people from many
different countries attended the conference. Keynote lecturers included
Andre Tahindro, Senior Ocean Affairs/Law of the Sea Officer, the United
Nations, Gordon Munro, University of British Columbia/Centre for Fisheries
Economics, Veijo Kaitala, Helsinki Technical University, Robert McKelvey,
University of Montana, Johannes Nakken, Deputy Minister of Fisheries, Norway
and Eidur Gudnason, Ambassador, Iceland.
The Centre for Fisheries
Economics will publish proceedings from the conference.
Trond Bjørndal
Centre for Fisheries Economics
- Overcapacity, Overcapitalisation
and Subsidies in European Fisheries
-
The existence of overcapacity
in fisheries is now widely recognised. The severe biological and socio-economic
impacts it has had on fisheries have been recognised and have hence been
given much needed attention in recent years. Important work has been carried
out on a global scale by FAO, OECD, WWF and the World Bank, tackling the
issues of defining fishing capacity, overcapacity and investigating the
role of subsidies made available to the industry. It is clear that the linkage
between these concepts will largely determine the effectiveness of fisheries
policy decisions and fleet restructuring programmes, influencing the long-term
sustainability of fish stocks and the fishing industry.
An EU funded Concerted
Action (CA) has been set up to discuss the important issues facing the development
of the Common Fisheries Policy. The CA is co-ordinated by Aaron Hatcher
and Kate Robinson at CEMARE in the UK, with partners from France, Norway,
Spain and Denmark. The first in a set of four workshops was held in Portsmouth
in October 1998 and dealt with the issue of "Overcapacity, Overcapitalisation
and Subsidies in European Fisheries". In total, 25 people (including
myself) were invited to attend and present papers at the workshop. European
research institutions were represented as well as international organisations
such as the OECD and WWF. Keynote presentations were made by Gordon Munro
from the University of British Columbia and Ragnar Arnason from the University
of Iceland, leading to three days of very informative presentations and
constructive discussions.
The objective of the workshop was to analyse the extent of subsidies
in European fisheries and assess their impact on fishing capacity and effort,
and ultimately assess the role that subsidies play in attaining the goals
set out by the Common Fisheries Policy. There was broad agreement by participants
on a number of issues. These included:
- Any subsidy that increases
revenues or lowers the cost of variable or fixed inputs will tend to lead
to increased fishing effort, which in the longer term means increased
capacity. Capital grants for vessel construction and modernisation will
have the most immediate impact on fleet capacity. Subsidies would not
be translated into increased fishing effort only where effort can be effectively
and completely constrained by regulation or where property rights are
perfectly assigned.
- Subsidies are often
made available to improve the efficiency of fleets or to protect employment
in fishery-dependent regions. As in most other industries, it should be
expected that a profitable fishing industry should be able to finance
its own reinvestments and it should therefore be a priority to implement
a management strategy that will ensure such profitability. Although protecting
employment is understandable, increased fishing effort may have an adverse
impact on the long-term sustainability of the resource. It may therefore
be more advisable for such spending to be directed towards alternative
employment.
- Vessel decommissioning
can play an important role when managers are faced with overcapacity in
the fishery. However, there are strong arguments for making fleet reductions
over a short period of time and then adjusting the management strategy
to avoid a similar build-up in capacity. Gradual programmes, such as MAGPs
of the European Union, may be ineffective in the long term, especially
if the incentive structure of management is not altered. It is also predominantly
voluntary and cash-limited programmes that are used, more often than not
assisting to remove the least efficient vessels. Although this may improve
overall fleet performance it is unlikely to curb fishing effort in the
fisheries. Long-term decommissioning may also reduce the perceived risk
of investment, which may lead to the introduction of more capital into
the industry, exacerbating the overcapacity problem.
The issue of structural
assistance in the EU has now been given increased attention. In his presentation
at the EAFE Conference in April this year, John Farnell (Director of DG
XIV) said that there would be increased pressure for a reduction in subsidies.
It is doubtful, however, that there will be any rapid changes to the structure
of MAGP funding and decommissioning.
At the end of the German
presidency in June, EU fisheries ministers failed to reach a deal on structural
assistance for the 2000-2006 period. The controversy largely concerned access
to vessel modernisation and construction funds and required construction:decommissioning
ratios. It is clear that whatever the outcome, subsidies will continue to
play an extensive role in European fisheries. The negative impacts that
subsidies may have on fisheries in the longer term are apparent and concerns
regarding their use therefore need to be continually voiced in an attempt
to influence decision makers in Europe.
The proceedings of the
first CA workshop are currently available (see
Publications).
Erik Lindebo
SJFI
|
