Two major studies

For its 2006-2008 Programme of Work the Committee for Fisheries is working on two major studies as follows:

Fisheries Policy Reform

The objectives of the project are to analyse drivers for and obstacles to policy reform in the fisheries sector and to identify the characteristics of successful reform in key fisheries policy areas. The project will highlight common elements in reform experiences to enhance the information base from which policy makers can draw as they undertake policy changes in their own countries and to assist countries in identifying strategies for overcoming obstacles to policy reform. The project addresses the process of reform in four key policy areas.

1. Labour market adjustment

A one-day Expert Meeting on “The Human Side of Fisheries Adjustment” was held in Paris in October 2006. The conference brought together a range of country experiences to share information on how different governments are addressing social issues in times of fishery sector adjustment. Further information on the Expert Meeting can be found here.

2. Decommissioning schemes

3. Domestic governance reform

4. International governance reform

 

Globalisation and the Implications of the OECD Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors

Globalisation is an ongoing process which has increased rapidly in recent decades as communication and transport costs have been reduced significantly and border restrictions have been reduced or eliminated. In many countries, a more open trading and investment climate is in place, allowing countries to reap the benefits of lower trade and investment/services barriers.

The fisheries sector has been ‘going global’ for many hundreds of years due to the high mobility of fleets, the migratory nature of certain fisheries and the development of fish conservation techniques (salting, drying, and later, freezing). The fifteenth century herring trade in North Eastern Europe and the development of cod fisheries off the Canadian Grand Banks in the sixteenth century are cases in point. Such developments, mostly observed through increasing trade, were fuelled by better handling techniques and a growing appetite for fish in certain markets.

More recently, however, the process of globalisation in fisheries has become more complex as various parts of the value chain adjust to new opportunities created across the globe. In addition, and affecting value chain elements to various degrees, newly established international or national frameworks add complexity to the process. In addition consumers and investors put pressure on retailers, wholesalers and food service industries in terms of sustainability and specific production and harvesting techniques.

New players, institutions, legal frameworks, international commitments and action plans affecting fisheries interests/stakeholders and, in general, more complexity, have fuelled the need to better understand the globalisation process. The overall aim of the globalisation study is to identify if current national and international fisheries regulatory frameworks are able to cope with these new pressures that globalisation gives rise to, chief among which is a growing pressure on the fisheries resource base. This has implications for future domestic and international policy formulation and implementation.

One of the early outputs from this subject can be found at the page for the Workshop on Opportunities and Challenges of Fisheries Globalisation that took place in April 2007.