The official, who asked not to be identified, said this controversy reflects continuing disagreement over using trade measures to enforce conservation and other environmental regulations. The United States and other countries that participated in earlier meetings aim to reach agreement on a voluntary plan of action, now still in draft form. If they succeed, they would press for its adoption in the FAO Committee on Fisheries 2001 meeting.
Some illegal fishing is done by registered fishing boats violating their own national regulation.
Some is done by unregistered, flagless vessels. The current draft plan recommends a number of actions for participants, both individually and in collaboration with each other in the high-seas conservation regimes, against IUU fishing, including banning import of IUU fish. Nevertheless, the State Department official said, some countries object to that. Some opponents want the WTO first to clarify its position with regard to international environmental agreements, he said. Others simply object to any use of trade measures, he said.