WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/RL/W/210 
6 June 2007 
 (07-2354) 
Negotiating Group on Rules Original:   English 
  
 
S&DT IN THE FISHERIES SUBSIDIES NEGOTIATIONS
1:  VIEWS  
OF THE SMALL, VULNERABLE ECONOMIES (SVES)  
 
Communication from Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,  
Fiji, Guyana, Honduras, Mauritius, Nicaragua , Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands  
   The following communication, dated 5 June 2007, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Barbados, Cuba, Do minican Republic, El Salvador, F iji, Guyana, Honduras, Mauritius, 
Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands. 
 
_______________ 
 
  
 The co-sponsors of this document are all pr oponents of the WTO Work Programme on Small 
Economies and have tabled this document in an e ffort to reaffirm some of our key principles 
regarding the fisheries negotiations a nd S&DT in particular.  In addition, this document is in response 
to the request of the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules for increased discussion on these issues.   
 
 We reaffirm the developmental significance of the fisheries industry to SVEs and the 
importance of access agreements to revenue generati on in some SVEs island and coastal states.   
  We also recognise the challenges faced by trad itional sectors in SVE states when confronted 
by global trade liberalisation and in this context we reaffirm the importance of industrial and semi-
industrial fishing as a tool to assist these countries in  the diversification of their economic base.   
 
 The SVEs are not seeking a "carve out" or dedicat ed rules specific to SVEs but rather wish to 
present certain key principles to inform the design of  rules on fisheries subsidies that are appropriate 
for all WTO Members.  In this respect, SVEs  also affirm the understanding that these current 
negotiations are centred on creating disciplines which will apply to marine capture fisheries and will 
not apply to aquaculture, processing and other valu e added components of the fishing industry.   
 
                                                     
 
1 This document is an attempt to respond to the call of the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules for 
brainstorming on S&DT issues and does not preclude th e co-sponsors of this document from submitting any 
additional proposals on these matters.   TN/RL/W/210 
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  A. I
NTERPRETING THE MINISTERIAL MANDATES ON FISHERIES SUBSIDIES  
The Doha Ministerial Declaration  states that " In the context of these negotiations, participants shall 
also aim to clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies, taking into account the 
importance of this sector to developing countrie s".   
 
The Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration  noted that there is broad agreement that the Group should 
strengthen disciplines on subsidies in the fisheries sector, including through the prohibition of certain 
forms of fisheries subsidies that contri bute to overcapacity and over-fishing, and call on Participants 
promptly to undertake further detailed work to, inter alia , establish the nature and extent of those 
disciplines, including transparency and enforceab ility.  Appropriate and effective special and 
differential treatment for developing and least-develope d Members should be an integral part of the 
fisheries subsidies negotiations, ta king into account the importan ce of this sector to development 
priorities, poverty reduction, and live lihood and food security concerns:   
 
i. The Co-sponsors of this document are of the view that the Ministerial mandates give clear 
instruction and guidance to ne gotiators on the issue of S&DT for developing and least 
developed countries.  The Hong Kong Ministeria l mandate specifically reflects the need for 
S&DT to be an integral component of the disci plines and recognises that the fisheries sector is 
of importance to developing countries fo r a number of socio-economic reasons.   
 ii. With this in mind, S&DT must be more than  an instrument to assist developing countries to 
implement the emerging rules, but must also allow developing countries the opportunity to 
take advantage of the natural resources in th eir maritime space and enhance their level of 
productivity in the area of fisheries.   
 
iii. In this respect S&DT in th e fisheries disciplines must be more than longer implementation 
periods and must instead support the development of the fisheries sector in small, vulnerable 
economies and their potential trade in fisheri es products and must not impede their capacity 
enhancement, management initiatives, or the processing and value added components of the 
industry in these economies.   
 iv. The co-sponsors of this proposal recognise th e environmental and sustainability effects of 
over fishing and overcapacity and are willing to examine possible disciplines which seek to 
minimise environmental and ecological damage so long as they are mutually supportive of the developmental priorities of small, vulnera ble economies and other similarly situated 
developing countries.   
 B. S
HOULD THE PROVISION OF S&DT  BE CONDITIONAL ? 
i. The co-sponsors of this document view S& DT as a fundamental principle of all WTO 
Agreements for developing countries and should  be accorded without conditions attached.  
However, the co-sponsors recognise that given the environmental and sustainability element 
of the fisheries negotiations, there have b een proposals which recommend the provision of 
S&DT on the basis of the individual country e ither acquiring certain management capacity or 
on ideas such as status of the fisheries and to tal allowable catch. Such conditionality would 
depart from WTO principles for according S&DT.   
 ii. The co-sponsors recognise that there are wide  divergences between the productive and trading 
capacity of developing countries in the fisheries se ctor and in the interests of sustainability of 
the marine resources are willing to consider car efully crafted parameters for S&DT which 
could meet this objective.  It is clear however that small, vulnerable economies, LDCs and some other developing countries have had such a minimum impact on over fishing and  TN/RL/W/210 
 Page 3 
 
 
  overcapacity that the proposed restrictions  on these countries would be unduly punitive and 
would have the detrimental effect of impedi ng the legitimate growth of their fisheries 
industry, thereby leading to industry regression and stagnation.   
 iii. An effective management regime for fisher ies is an important component of a country’s 
fisheries policy.  However, it must be recognised  that not all developing countries, especially 
the SVEs and the LDCs, have the capacity to enact a management regime which can produce 
statistics, analyse data or secure its waters fro m IUU fishing to the extent that major fishing 
nations do.  In light of this relatively limited capacity, any S&DT conditionality in the area of 
management regimes should not unduly punish these countries for their capacity constraints 
and should be examined in light of their rela tively small productive and trading share of world 
fisheries.   
 iv. The FAO Code of Conduct has been suggest ed as an appropriate guideline for countries to 
follow with regards to their management re gimes and the co-sponsors of this document 
concur that it has many important elements.  However as it is a voluntary instrument, the 
Code of Conduct should not be simply im ported into a WTO agreement as a binding 
discipline.  Rather it may be appropriate for de veloping countries to illustrate the existence of 
a management plan, either a national management  plan or a regional management plan.  If the 
architecture of these plans is found to be signi ficantly lacking, the developed countries and 
international organisations with necessary leve ls of capacity and competence in these areas 
for improvement should provide technical and financial assistance to these developing 
countries to enhance their management plans.   
 v. Environmental criteria such as the level of expl oitation of the fisheries species or the level of 
exploitation in certain waters have been sugg ested as conditions for developing countries to 
use certain subsidies.  The co-sponsors are concerned about the accuracy of data and 
unwarranted penalisation of small economies as  a result of the exploitation of fisheries 
species outside of their waters by larger fleets of countries with greater capacity.  The idea of 
utilising total allowable catch as a mechanism is  one which must also take into account the 
need to accord flexibility for developing countri es as well as to safeguard the future growth 
prospects of their fishing industry.   
 
C. A
RTISANAL AND SMALL SCALE FISHERIES  
i. The co-sponsors of this document recognise that  there has been a great degree of discussion 
on this issue within the negotiating group.  D espite this, there does not appear to be any 
agreement on a definition for these types of fisher ies nor how they should be treated in the 
disciplines.   
 ii. SVEs have consistently stated that their dom estic definitions and practical industry realities 
do not recognise a clear distinction between artisanal  and small scale fisheries. In the majority 
of cases there is a small profit trade involved in th e fisheries and in some cases it is part of a 
small productive chain especially in those c ountries dependent on tourism.  These small 
fisheries may also be organised into coope ratives and hence there could be an economic 
component to the fisheries transactions notwith standing the traditional nature of the fishery 
and its livelihood and food security aspect.   
 iii. With this in mind the co-sponsors believe that  any definition of artisanal must take into 
account this economic aspect if it is really to result in any benefits for the developing 
countries.  It has been recognised however th at a cumulative view of small artisansal and 
small scale fishing fleets may result in certain  environmental and sustainability impacts and 
we are willing to further discuss how this imp act can be minimised including discussions on TN/RL/W/210 
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  the assistance which can be provided by releva nt international organi sations and developed 
country members in this area.   
 iv. Some proposals have sought to use physical characteristics for determining artisanal and 
small scale fishing and the co-sponsors are of th e view that any definition based on physical 
attributes should recognise the following if it is to  take the reality of SVEs artisanal and small 
scale fisheries into account:   
 
• Any definition using the length of vessel  should take into account the domestic 
definitions used by SVEs,  
• Allowances should be made for a certain level of modernisation such as engine 
horsepower of up to 300hp, the use of navigation and safety equipment and mechanised 
fishing gear as improved technology becomes available.   
 v. Socio-economic considerations must also be ta ken into account if seeking to define artisanal 
and small scale fisheries such as the importance of the sector to employment, food security, poverty reduction and nutrition.   
 
vi. The co-sponsors recognise that the issue of "s mall programmes" has also  been raised in the 
negotiations.  Any treatment for "small programm es" should be a component of the S&DT for 
developing countries and its architecture could be based on a level of financial amount, the 
size of the fleet and/or the share of the country in world fisheries trade.   
 D. O
THER AREAS OF S&DT 
i. The co-sponsors believe that there are ot her areas in the disciplines where S&DT should 
apply.  These include: 
 
1. Appropriate flexibilities for industria l and semi-industrial fishing for SVEs 
2. notification requirements 
3. length of time to implement the agreement 4. Greater opportunity for consultation before any DSB cases 5. technical assistance and capacity build ing for enhancing management regimes 
 
 The co-sponsors of this document are willing to c ontinue to work with other members to find 
solutions in these areas which take into account the tr ade, development and environmental elements of 
the fisheries negotiations.     
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