Market-Based Mechanisms – Improving Fisheries Management? - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 189

The loss of food fish from declining fisheries is only one aspect of concern.
Fishing has its own impacts and there is global concern about the effects of fishing
on groups of species such as sharks, turtles and seabirds, as well as more general
ecosystem alteration (FAO 2001). In coastal areas fishing pressure adds to a wide
suite of pressures on waterways (estuaries and rivers) such as pollution, dams, wet-
land drainage and urban development. Indeed, coastal development is proceeding
at such a pace in some countries that the future of many inshore fish stocks is bleak
(FAO 2007).

9.3 Impacts of trade on fish and fisheries

The world's nations have broadly agreed that international trade, in general, is
good for economic development and that increased trade will result in benefits
for people. International trading in seafood products is one of the factors driving
increased production and thus increased pressure on fish resources. According to
Deere (2000), the expected positive aspects of such trade could include:

comparative advantage - producer nations can specialise in areas where they
have a natural advantage;

potential to generate higher economic growth which could be allocated to
poverty reduction and other beneficial uses;

reduced prices for consumers as goods/services are sourced from the cheapest
producers;

greater choice for consumers; and

discouraging protectionism, which otherwise can cause environmental damage
by encouraging inefficient (i.e. wasteful) resource use.

Perhaps not surprisingly there is also a set of counter-arguments:
governments may not compensate for trade impacts;
trade can promote environmental degradation, including overfishing;
lower costs may be due to weaker laws, i.e. laws may not require sufficient
investment in management controls;
trade can facilitate transport-related pollution;
can adversely affect jobs and communities;
the international system of trade governance has problems; and
food security may be threatened.

Seafood production has also grown as a result of both global population growth and
gradual increases in spending power. The growth in per capita consumption is most
pronounced in developing countries, especially Asia, whereas growth in developed
countries has largely remained static although this may hide a shift to high-value
products as incomes have risen.