CONTENTS

Economic Perspectives

An Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2003

Focus Commentary Facts and Figures Information Resources

Overfishing: A Global Challenge

FOCUS

Current Challenges in International Fisheries
By John Turner, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
When the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Committee on Fisheries meets in February, it has an important opportunity to improve conservation in the world's battered fisheries, says John Turner, assistant secretary of state. FAO already has an impressive array of agreements with which to work -- the time has come to implement them, with special attention to halting illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, he says.

Eliminating Fishing Subsidies As a Way to Promote Conservation
By Alice Mattice, Director for Trade and Environmental Policy Planning, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
The payment of government subsidies to the fisheries sector is clearly a major reason for overfishing in the high seas, according to Alice Mattice of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Mattice argues in this article that current World Trade Organization negotiations offer the best opportunity for imposing discipline on fishing subsidies.

How International Enforcement Cooperation Deters Illegal Fishing in The North Pacific
By Commander John Davis, Chief, Fisheries Enforcement Division,
U.S. Coast Guard
Multinational cooperation is essential in enforcing conservation of fisheries over the vast distances of the ocean, says Commander John Davis, chief of fisheries enforcement for the U.S. Coast Guard. Davis describes how U.S. cooperation with Russian and Chinese authorities has achieved a steep drop in illegal driftnet fishing in the North Pacific.

The Environmental Consequences and Economic Costs of Depleting the World's Oceans
By Angela Somma, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,
National Marine Fisheries Service
Overfishing can not only reduce the stocks of targeted and non-targeted species but also wreak havoc with the marine ecosystem, according to Angela Somma of the Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service. Moreover, she says, overfishing and mismanagement of fisheries cost billions of dollars a year in potential revenue to the industry while government subsidies to unsustainably large fishing fleets cost billions more.

International Instruments for International Fisheries
By David Balton, Director of the Office of Marine Conservation,
U.S. Department of State
The past decade has seen a burst of international rules and voluntary guidelines for fishing in coastal waters and on the high seas. In this article David Balton, director of the State Department's Office of Marine Conservation, summarizes developments from the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development to the 2002 U.N. World Summit for Sustainable Development.

Creating and Implementing International Fisheries Conservation Agreements
By Dean Swanson, Chief, International Fisheries Division, National Marine Fisheries Service
The way the United States approaches negotiation and implementation of fisheries agreements could serve as a model for foreign government fisheries management, says Dean Swanson of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The inclusive, transparent process means all the difference in achieving results, he says.

COMMENTARY

Some Observations on Developments in World Fisheries
By David J. Doulman, Senior Fishery Liaison Officer, Fisheries Department, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
Governments of fishing countries need to demonstrate the political will to halt overfishing, says David Doulman of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Developing countries could well fall further behind developed countries as management of fisheries becomes ever more complicated, he says.

America's Stake in the Conservation of Fisheries and the Oceans
By Scott Burns, World Wildlife Fund
Managing the world's fisheries in a sustainable way would assure their productive capacity for the millions who work in them and the many more who depend on them for food, says Scott Burns of the World Wildlife Fund. What the oceans need now, he says, are stronger management of migratory fish stocks, reduction of fishing fleet overcapacity by eliminating subsidies, and strict protection for the most biologically important marine regions.

The Global Fish Market and the Need for Multilateral Fishing Disciplines
By Justin LeBlanc, Vice President for Government Relations, National Fisheries Institute
Without participation by all relevant markets, fisheries conservation schemes have no chance to succeed, says Justin LeBlanc of the National Fisheries Institute. A powerful existing international convention for protecting endangered species might help enforce conservation measures some day, but for now it lacks expertise, he says.

A Developing Country Puts a Halt to Foreign Overfishing
By Paul Nichols, Special Adviser to the Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Namibia
Foreign fishing fleets drastically overfished the waters off Namibia before that country gained independence in 1990, according to Paul Nichols, special adviser to the Namibian fisheries ministry. Since then, he says, the government has taken strong regulatory actions that have brought overfishing under control and allowed depleted fish stocks to rebuild.

FACTS AND FIGURES

A Look at Recent FAO Global Data on the State of Fish Stocks

International and Regional Fisheries Management Arrangements

Fisheries and the World Summit on Sustainable Development

INFORMATION RESOURCES

Key Contacts and Internet Sites

Additional Readings

An Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State

Volume 8, Number 1, January 2003

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