Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
view, had been developed without due consultation with fishers' organisations and
that did not take into consideration the diversity of fisheries in the developing coun-
tries. 'It would be almost impossible to show, as required by the MSC Principles
and Criteria, that a developing country fishery is subject to an effective management
system' wrote the ICSF's Executive Secretary, Sebastian Mathew (cited in Mathew
2004). FAO (2000) considered that the problems would include the preponderance
of small-scale and artisanal fisheries, where management is more complex because
of the large number of participants and their lack of alternative paid-employment
opportunities; the multispecies characteristics of tropical fisheries; the lack of fi-
nancial resources needed to retire significant amounts of excess fishing capacity;
and the limited technical and managerial capacities of government agencies in
developing countries.
At the intergovernmental level, many delegations at the 22nd Session of the
FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), Rome, 17-20 March 1997, 'questioned the
transparency of the [MSC] process, the responsibility and competence for the de-
velopment of principles and criteria for sustainable fisheries; as well as the source
and use of scientific evidence in this process. Several delegations also referred to
possible discrimination against products on the market and considered that MSC
could pose a threat to developing countries and a potential trade barrier leading
to market advantages to some States'. (FAO 1997, paragraph 37). There was no
consensus at that time that FAO should address this subject.
The issue was raised again at the 6th Session of the COFI Sub-Committee on
Fish Trade, Bremen, 3-6 June 1998, where Norway, on behalf of the Nordic coun-
tries, submitted a proposal that FAO organise a technical consultation to investigate
the feasibility and practicability of developing non-discriminatory, globally appli-
cable, technical guidelines for the ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from
marine fisheries. This proposal was endorsed by the committee and FAO convened
a technical consultation in October 1998.
This technical consultation of government-nominated experts and observer or-
ganisations did not reach an agreement on the practicality and feasibility of FAO
drafting technical guidelines for ecolabelling of marine fisheries products. How-
ever, it reached a consensus that if an agreement was eventually reached on the
feasibility of elaborating guidelines for ecolabelling, it should be consistent with
the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
Article 11.1.11 of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries calls upon
States to 'ensure that international and domestic trade in fish and fishery products
accords with sound conservation and management practices through improving the
identification of the origin of fish and fishery products traded'. Article 11.2.2 states
that '[i]nternational trade in fish and fishery products should not compromise the
sustainable development of fisheries and responsible utilization of living aquatic
resources'. Improved information on the origin of fish and fishery products can
result in more informed purchasing behaviour by consumers and intermediaries,
taking into account the status of specific fish stocks. References to the environment
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