Trading Away Our Oceans uses official data from government
sources to show that further trade liberalization of fisheries does
not bring the benefits governments claim. Instead, as case studies
of Mauritania, Senegal and Argentina for example show, trade
liberalization in fisheries is a disaster for the marine
environment as well as for food security, especially for developing
countries. Not even the economic case for liberalization is
convincing. Argentina, for example, is estimated to have lost at
least 3.5 million US dollars in future earnings by over-exploiting
its fish resources after liberalization measures (1).
Greenpeace is calling on governments to stop ignoring their own
evidence and create proper management systems for fisheries
globally rather than blindly pursuing free trade until there are no
fish left in the oceans.
"The message from Nairobi to Davos is crystal clear: Plans for
unbridled liberalization of the global fish trade must be abandoned
at once in light of the serious negative social and environmental
impacts of over exploitation that would follow," said Daniel
Mittler, Trade Policy Advisor at Greenpeace International. "If
Davos sets the path to move global trade liberalization forward,
our oceans and the long-term food security of billions of people
will pay the price".
The report highlights why governments must urgently abandon
plans for fisheries trade liberalization. Strong fisheries
management regimes, which are needed to resist the pressure for
over fishing that would inevitably result from trade
liberalization, are not yet in place in most parts of the world's
oceans, leaving them vulnerable to over exploitation.
"Fish on dinner plates around the world are often either
illegally or unfairly stolen from someone else's ocean, robbing the
poor and future generations of food and income," said Sari
Tolvanen, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace International.
"Governments must end their complicity in this hidden crime."
Greenpeace is calling for governments to adhere to existing
oceans governance, starting with the United Nations Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS), whilst establishing new rules to guarantee a sustainable
and equitable management of the high seas and providing developing
countries with the capacity and know-how to establish and enforce
effective fisheries management.
Other contacts: Daniel Mittler (in Nairobi), Greenpeace International, Trade Policy Advisor, Tel: +49 171 876 5345, e-mail: 
ari Tolvanen (in Nairobi), Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner, Tel: +31655125480, email: 
sabel Leal (in Amsterdam), Greenpeace International Media Officer, Tel: +34 647 24 15 02; email: 
Notes: (1) See page 53 of the report, available at:http://oceans.greenpeace.org/tradingaway
Exp. contact date: 2007-02-19 00:00:00