26-27 April 2004, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

The Economics and Trade Branch (ETB) of the United Nations Environment Programme convened the fifth Workshop on Fishery Subsidies and Sustainable Fisheries Management on 26-27 April 2004 in Geneva. The workshop offered an open forum for exchange of views and opinions on the impacts of fishing subsidies and the means for reforming them. The workshop brought together more than 100 individuals from 37 national governments, as well as inter-governmental organizations, non-government organizations, regional fisheries management organizations and academic institutions, all invited in their personal capacities.

The workshop addressed the following themes:

Sustainable Management of Fisheries was the core topic of discussion, addressing basic tools and concepts applied in fisheries management, including artisanal fishing and community-based approaches. This session also reviewed the status of world fisheries, the current international legal regimes governing fisheries, the problem of overcapacity and the economic dimensions of fisheries policy and management.

The Resource Impact of Fishery Subsidies was addressed through a UNEP-commissioned "matrix" paper that analyses the impacts of different types of subsidies under various management and bio-economic conditions. The paper concludes that under most real-world conditions fisheries subsidies have a great potential to harm fish stocks.

Experience with Subsidies and Fisheries Management, including several UNEP country studies, illustrated the dynamic interaction between fishing subsidies and fisheries management at national and international level and the political and social realities affecting fisheries and fishery policy reforms.

Reform of Fishing Subsidies at the International Level was discussed in an exploratory manner, giving different stakeholders the opportunity to exchange views on various disciplinary and institutional components of international efforts to reform fishing subsidies, including models for inter-institutional cooperation between UNEP, WTO, FAO, etc.

UNEP had commissioned two background papers for this meeting: Analysing the Resource Impact of Fisheries Subsidies: A Matrix Approach, and Incorporating Impacts on Resources into Disciplines on Fisheries Subsidies: Issues and Options. They were drafted by Gareth Porter, reviewed by an informal expert group meeting in July 2003 and sent to governments for comments in December 2003. The comments received at this meeting will be taken into account when finalizing the two papers.

If you have any questions regarding this meeting or other related issues, please email us at etb@unep.ch or contact Anja von Moltke at
tel: 41 -22-917 8137.

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