US, Other Countries to Address Fishery Subsidies at WTO

The U.S. and 12 other World Trade Organization members are jointly launching plurilateral negotiations in Geneva to ban subsidies for fisheries worldwide, 60 percent of which are being overfished, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said (here). The members also plan a push for bolstering international standards regarding the reporting and transparency of fishery subsidies, as tens of billions of dollars in these subsidies contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, disadvantaging U.S. fishing industries, among other things, USTR said. Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Singapore, Switzerland and Uruguay are joining the U.S. in this effort. "The United States has been a leader on this issue,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement. “We are eager to join with similarly committed WTO Members to negotiate new rules that will help protect the marine environment and allow American fishermen and women to compete on a fair and level playing field." U.S. fishing industries in 2014 exported an estimated $5.8 billion in edible fish products around the world, USTR said.