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Goergen, M. (2007, Jul/Aug). Journal of Forestry www document (Vol. 105, Iss. 5). Proquest (visited 2007, November 8).
Raising Awareness Through Media
One possible method for raising public awareness of the issue of the world's fisheries is to follow the example of other promoters of global issues. One instance that comes to mind is that of Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth', a documentary designed to frighten the public out of it's apathy regarding climate change. Gore succeeded in executing a "multimedia plan for informing the public about the dangers of global warming" (Koeppel, 2007). What if Gore's tactic was applied to raising awareness about global fisheries?
The commercial success of Gore's film is quite apparent-it has become the fourth highest grossing documentary in history (Wray, 2006) and earned two Oscars at the 2006 Academy Awards (Koeppel, 2007). Even more impressive is that the film earned half of its gross outside the United States (boxofficemojo.com). This success proves that there are many more people in the world now who have a clear idea of the devastating effects that global warning will have on our planet and perhaps more motivation to do something about mitigating those effects. It also suggests that there is an appetite among the public for information about what is happening to our planet. If we appeal to that appetite by presenting the facts of a global issue in a format that is interesting, entertaining, and easily accessible, we can reach a wide audience with our message, both domestically and abroad.
Several factors other than pure entertainment value contributed to the popularity of 'An Inconvenient Truth". One of these factors was the identity of the narrator: a former presidential candidate who is a memorable and controversial topic in and of himself. Another factor is the widespread knowledge about global warming that already exists in popular culture. So in order for a film about the plight of global fisheries reach a sizable audience, we would have to have similar assets on our side: both a well-known figure (or several figures) presenting the message and educational campaigns to raise awareness about the problem that are separate from promotion of the film itself. However, with the proper approach, film and media could be powerful tools in the fight to save the fish.
References
An inconvenient truth. (2007). Retrieved 11/9/2007, 2007, from http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=inconvenienttruth.htm
Koeppel, P. (2007). The marketing of an inconvenient truth. Ezine, 11/9/2007.
Wray, L., & Flanagan, C. (2006). An inconvenient truth about youth. Electronic version. Washington Post, pp. A17. Retrieved 11/9/2007.
Subsidies in Fisheries
Fisheries sector plays an important role in food supply. Apart from that, it is also a source of livelihood for many people, especially those in developing countries. Therefore, many countries subsidize their fishing industries to protect their food supply. In the world, the annual subsidies are $10 to $15 billion - possibly more than 25 percent of the annual $56 billion trade in fish. Hence, we can realize how prevalent subsidizing fishing industry is in the world.
There are many forms of subsidies:
Direct government payments to the industry
a diverse range of subsidies as grants made for the purchase of new fishing vessels, vessel decommissioning payments (buybacks), fishermen's unemployment insurance, compensation for closed seasons, equity infusions, and price support programmes (Schrank, 2003)
"Grants for the purchase of new fishing vessels might be introduced to aid in the development of an indigenous fishing industry. Vessel decommissioning payments may be introduced to stimulate a process of reducing excess capacity. Fishermen's unemployment insurance may be introduced to stimulate fishermen to enter or remain in the industry. Compensation for closed seasons may be introduced to permit fishermen to remain in the industry when their incomes are unexpectedly cut because of measures introduced by governments to protect declining fish stocks. Equity infusions may be made to avoid the bankruptcy of fishing firms when the bankruptcy would have catastrophic effects on the employment of a region, particularly when the bankruptcy is caused by a temporary economic occurrence such as the decline of markets during a severe business recession. Price support programmes, whereby government pays producers the difference between market price and an administratively set target price, may be introduced to support fishermen's incomes." (Schrank, 2003)
Tax waivers and deferrals
Government loans and loan guarantees, and insurance
Implicit payments to, or charge against the industry
General programs that affect fisheries
Case Study:
United States of America's and Canada's fisheries are highly subsidized for many years. Most of the subsidies are generated by the government and monopoly. The main aim of their subsidies is to develop their domestic fisheries. Apart from that, they have also used approximately US$3,000,000,000 on income maintenance for unemployed fishermen and fish plant workers and improving fisheries science. In 1990s, when people start to realize the problem of overfishing, both countries started to subsidize to develop technologies to reduce capacity. (Schrank, 2003)
Norway, one of the largest cod-catching countries, grants loans to their fishing industries to support the export of their fishing market. They also grant loans to vessel arrangements, price support, insurance subsidies, operating subsidies, minimum income guarantees, vacation support and unemployment insurance, bait subsidies, gear subisidies and damage compensation) (Schrank, 2003)
Some are harmful; some may help to solve the problem of overfishing. In view of this, WTO agreed on restricting subsidies designed to promote export and establish controls over other form of subsidies. However, Canada,Japan, and other countries with large fishery industry, endorses the "no-need approach" in which no restriction of subsidies should be imposed as they dispute the casual link between subsidies and overexploitation of fish resources. They propose fisheries management regimes deal with catch controls (quotas), effort controls (restrictions on boat size, engine power and days at sea, etc.) and right-based structures (permits, individual transferable quotas, etc.). Therefore, in Japan's view, it would be unfair if these varying situations are ignored and certain fisheries subsidies automatically prohibited. (Benitah, 2004)
Other countries propose the Traffic Light approach: red (forbidden subsidies), green (permitted subsidies), amber (slow down, which means that subsidies may be subjected to a complaint on the basis of their adverse trade effects). By this approach, desirable subsidies will be maintained while direct payment to promote export would be banned or discouraged.
This measure has been supported by countries like Norway. (Benitah, 2004)
However, difficulties exist in the elimination of subsidies. As subsidies are regarded as one of the invisible protectionist measures, it is almost impossible to measure the amount of subsidies that a country provides to is fishing industry.
References
Milazzo, M. (2000). The World Bank: Subsidies in World Fisheries: A Re-examination. Technical Paper, No. 406, 4-6.
Benitah, M. (June 2004). Ongoing WTO Negotiations on Fisheries SUbsidies. ASIL Insights, 1-3.
Schrank, W. (2003). Introducing Fisheries Subsidies. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, 437, 1-5.
Additional Sources
(2005). Fisheries. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from European Commission Web site: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/management_resources/conservation_measures/fishing_effort_en.htm
This document includes evidence of the success of restrictions on the size of the fleet in Europe. It includes data such as the total catch by nation of nations including China, India, and European states. It also includes details about failures of the Common Fisheries Policy such as anger by fishermen thatthey were not included more in the decision process, supporting the need to work directly with those whom we are regulating. In response, the EC created Regional Advisory Councils which we have used as a model for our integration of fishermen into our plan.
(2004, June 14). Economy and Environment Program to Southeast Asia. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from International Development Research Center Web site: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-61204-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
This page includes a study in which although fishermen supported regulations and believe they were working in the southeastern region of Asia, the majority of those surveyed were actually not registered. This supports the need for education and active patrolling of the fleet (registered and not).
Colson, David A. (1995, January, 25). Current issues in international fishery conservation and management - David A. Colson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1584/is_n7_v6/ai_16848376/pg_1
This page discusses an earlier attempt by the United States at fisheries management and High Seas Fisheries Licensing Act. It also includes evidence that every country must be involved because 90% of world catch occurs within EEZs. This bill was approved by the full House.
(2007, January). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from The Federal Register Web site: http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2007-03-05-E7-3776
This proposed legislation served as a sample template for our own proposal.
(2006, June). ICES Symposium. from Marine Institute Web site: http://www.ices06sfms.com/presentations/index.shtml
This page included a lot of research and presentations that highlighted many of our concerns about fisheries, including how to regulate them and proposed solutions. We worked on figuring out how to implement them and improve them.
Proposed Solutions
GPS tracking
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