Food security group Tugon Kabuhayan on Monday backed the call of the Philippine delegation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to continue hearing cases of “harmful subsidies,” even if such fishing operation occurred in so-called disputed waters.
In a news statement, the group said environmentally harmful subsidies should be prohibited in all waters.
“Otherwise all a country needs to do is to create a ‘dispute’ to get out of the coverage of the prohibition,” the group added.
In a recent virtual WTO ministerial meeting, top officials of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have enjoined their fellow agriculture and trade ministers to hasten negotiations to finalize new disciplines that will eliminate subsidies which contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, overfished stocks, and overcapacity and overfishing.
“The Philippines stands together with other WTO member-countries who are committed to deliver an outcome in the fisheries subsidy negotiations ahead of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference [MC12] in December this year,” said Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.
Secretary William Dar of DA, for his part, said, “the current draft text of the agreement contains a carve-out that if a prohibited subsidy occurs in disputed waters, it will not be addressed by a WTO panel, as this will provide a loophole for countries involved in maritime disputes to be exempted from the disciplines.”
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines fisheries subsidies as “government actions or inactions that are specific to the fisheries industry and that modifies —by increasing or decreasing—the potential profits by the industry in the short, medium or long term.”
Based on the latest data from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the depleting fish stocks can worsen poverty and endanger coastal communities that rely on fishing.
The UN agency said one-third of the global fish stocks were overfished, an increase from 10 percent in 1970 and 27 percent in 2000.
The WTO noted that negotiations on the matter have been ongoing for about two decades already. One of the “thorniest issues” it must resolve concerns the setting provision of special and differential treatment to developing and least developed countries, while ensuring sustainability of the oceans.
Moreover, Tugon Kabuhayan also recalled that the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 states that “by 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and refrain from introducing new such subsidies.”
The group said it could be recalled that in March, 237 Chinese vessels were found swarming Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun Reef) with their presence continuing into May. The National Task Force-West Philippine Sea said the vessels are about 60 meters in length and can each carry an estimated 240,000 kilos of fish.
In May, Tugon Kabuhayan convener and former Bureau of Fish and Agricultural Resources National Director Asis Perez warned that the catch of the sighted fishing vessels was estimated to reach at least 54,984 metric tons of fish, which already amounted the Philippines’s loss of at least P3.5 billion worth of marine catch.
Moreover, the group said these vessels are committing IUU fishing in our waters and they were able to do it despite being not economically viable because these Chinese fishing vessels are recipients of massive Chinese government subsidy. It also said that a 60-meter fishing vessel would require at least 5,000 to 10,000 liters of fuel to operate daily, at least 35 officers and men to operate, and huge maintenance and depreciation cost as each vessel can easily be over $10 million each.
Based on the country’s fishing industry experience, the group said the daily cost to maintain and operate a vessel this size is around P500,000 daily or around $10,000.
“This means that these vessels should be able to catch around 10 metric tons of tuna or around 12-14 tons of round scad [galunggong] just to get into a break-even. It is impossible for these 237 vessels to catch enough fish to even cover their basic daily cost to operate as well as maintenance and depreciation, if not for the huge subsidy that they enjoy,” added Tugon Kabuhayan.
“We believe that the prohibition against harmful subsidies will result in better management of the dwindling fish stocks which some…are able to exploit, even if such exploitation is no longer economically viable, simply because of these harmful and in reality, wrongful subsidies,” the group said.