11.16.07

Taxes and Quotas

We debated taxes/fees vs quotas. The general decision is that both methods are needed. We believe that we can use quotas to control the supply of fish, while we can use fees and taxes to control the demand for fish.

Fees and Taxes:

• We want to charge taxes for non-sustainably caught fish. We want the tax to be similar to current taxes for alcohol or gasoline--it will be an excise tax.
• The tax will need to be highly visible. There needs to be something like a big red sticker near taxed fish that say something like "this is not sustainable and is subject to a tax" or something like that.
• The money would be used by the government to fund the conservation efforts of other components of our solution
• We will use today's techniques to get the tax passed (lobbyists, environmental pressure).
• We will need to have an example of previous taxes--the fact that they have been passed, and how they helped.

Quotas:

• We need quotas.
• We want separate limits for different stocks
• I think that there was some more stuff.

Public Outreach (Education)

• encourage environmental curricula in schools
• TV ads, PSAs, children's shows
  • the AdCouncil is running Disney-sponsored Little mermaid commercials targeting kids; the goal of the campaign has something to do with the oceans
  • More detail about AdCouncil in Alex's email
• Use MPAs as places for "exotic" sport fishing
  • We will need to get some data about this
• blacklist/whitelist companies
• encourage family planning

International Body

• take over and restructure the existing Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea under the UN
  • need to read the current Law of the Sea to determine how much we should change
  • strong objections to the current LOS because of sovereignty issues
• the charter of the body will include the majority of our solutions
  • solutions that are difficult to implement on an international level will be dealt with by establishing review committees made up of member states and scientists that can evaluate the degree to with these suggestions can be implemented in individual nations
• establish a scientific and economic board/committee within body to make recommendations for new legislation and to advise countries on how to implement the charter of the body within their specific state
• try to work closely with the regional organizations (like the [Forum Fisheries Agency of the South Pacific|http://www.ffa.int/]) that already exist to maximize efficiency and implementation
• what are the incentives for a country to enter?
  • once several large players enter the body/accept the charter, it will economically beneficial to join, since member states only trade fish with states that fish sustainably, and do not allow companies to register with them that fish under the flags of countries who haven't signed
  • other incentives to get those initial countries to join?
    • education!!! this benefits everyone
    • improves public image
    • some believe that if we get the US on board, we can get others to follow suit, so focus on US
• enforcement--two levels
  • enforce signatory states to keep to the charter
    • economic incentives/sanctions
    • GPS tracking devices?
  • enforcement by signatory states within their own country
    • leave means of enforcement up to countries, but provide them with necessary commissions to receive advice on how to implement and phase in these changes
• finances/funding
  • money is funneled into the Division of Ocean Affairs as part of the UN budget
  • there were other ideas for how to get funding--any help on this one guys?
  • individual countries can use the fish taxes to support their own programs
  • save a fish program?
    • this was presented as possibly and NGO that could work with (but separate from) the international body
• Fair Trade fish... this needs to be explored in the context of an international body

This is not a final proposal, just the thoughts of the group.