International trade in fish and fish products is booming. Production is increasing on the back of growing demand across the world. Preservation and transport of produce is becoming cheaper. Lower tariffs have helped, as has the coming in of 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones.
More than half the value of exports is from developing countries of Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDC). ICSF monitors this trade from the perspective of small-scale fishers, analysing international and regional trade regimes, disseminating information about relevant developments to fishworker bodies, civil society and policymakers.
ICSF explains ecolabelling and other forms of certification and their implications for small-scale fishing communities and food security. The aim is enhanced capacity of fisher organizations to deal with trade on an even keel.
ICSF follows negotiations related to fisheries subsidies and other fisheries-related debates at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and follows regional trade agreements, to inform small-scale fishers about their implications for their access to resources and markets.
ICSF continues to monitor and analyze information on developments in international trade and regional trade regimes and to disseminate information about such developments to fishworker organizations, CSOs and policy makers.
Labels or Fables? The Myth of Sustainability examines the costs of certification of global fisheries and how it is allegedly biased towards industrial-scale fisheries. This dossier is a compilation of…
This section provides information on instruments relevant to fisheries trade. This section also includes decisions on trade and environment that are important for the fishing industry. https://www.icsf.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/930.ICSF108.pdf
This paper examines, from the fishery perspective of a developing country, the debate on the role of fisheries subsidies in the context of the negotiations relating to the General Agreement…
The workshop was co-hosted by the NGO Instituto Terramar. The document gives a detailed report of the presentations and discussions transpired in the workshop. The discussions at the workshop as…
The study focuses on Guinea-Conakry, Senegal,Benin, Togo, Ghana, Gambia and Ivory Coast, which are either important producers or consumers of fish and have significant trade links with one another. The…
A long-standing demand of the women of fishing communities in the region has been towards enhancing regional fish trade. It is against this background that the Workshop on Problems and…
This video provides an overview of the issues involved, and highlights many of the concerns of the actors in the fisheries sector. It also reports briefly on the workshop on…
This video provides an overview of the issues involved, and highlights many of the concerns of the actors in the fisheries sector. It also reports briefly on the workshop on…
The shrimp-turtle dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) between the United States and several Asian countries is the first case that involved a Multilateral Environmental Agreement (EU 2001). All…
This report is prepared by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC or Commission) in response to a request by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means (Committee)…
Negotiating group on rules original: Article [X]: Special and differential treatment: Communication from India, Revision https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/TN/RL/GEN200R1.pdf&Open=True
At the 13 February informal meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules, heads of WTO delegations took stock of the state of play of fisheries subsidies negotiations and discussed how…
Peru has an open economy, characterized by low tariff levels and few restrictions to international trade. Peru needs to tackle a number of challenges, including poverty reduction, better governance and…
In countries with very high human development, for example, subscriptions to fixed broadband are growing 15 times faster and the proportion of adults with tertiary education is growing more than…
This report, prepared for the eighth Trade Policy Review of Hong Kong, China, has been drawn up by the WTO Secretariat on its own responsibility. The Secretariat has, as required…
This is the 14th Trade Policy Review of the United States. Since the last Review in 2016, the focus of U.S. trade policy has shifted to adopting policies that are…
Norway has an advanced economy with a per capita GDP among the highest in the world at NKr 621,400 (US$75,200) in 2017. Trade is important to the economy, with imports…
International fishery access agreements allow fishermen from one country to harvest fish in another country’s waters. We empirically examine why countries sign fisheries access agreements with each other and compare…
The 2019 Human Development Report is the latest in the series of global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990 as independent, analytically and…