Countries around the world implement tariffs and bans on foreign products primarily to protect the competitiveness of domestically made products, ensure products entering their borders are safe, and limit the number of products that enter their markets stemming from forced labor and other unsafe working conditions. However, these practices – justified or not – have hampered the growth of seafood industries in developing countries, according to a new report conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
UNCTAD's “South-South Trade in the Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors” report found high tariffs – as well as a myriad of non-tariff barriers designed to protect domestic industries – disincentivizes developing countries from participating in global value chains, especially within seafood.
According to UNCTAD, South-South trade has nearly doubled in value terms over the past decade, rising 96 percent in the period between 2012 and 2022, compared to a 51 percent overall rise in trade globally. The report identifies China, Chile, Indonesia, and Vietnam as leading developing countries in terms of seafood trade, though much of that exchange is conducted with developed countries.
The report identifies tariff reductions and closer international coordination as ways to boost seafood production globally. But in lieu of the difficult process of pushing developed economies to implement tariff reductions or remove seafood bans, the report suggests developing nations implement trade-friendly regulations among themselves, bolstering “South-South trade” – a term referring to the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the Global South – in the process.
UNCTAD's Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP), a group aiming to drive trade and investment among developing countries, is one such initiative. Key seafood-producing nations including India, Indonesia, and Thailand are among the 42 countries that have joined the GSTP. The group has proposed tariff cuts of up to 20 percent among signatory nations.
“Tariff reductions could support an increase in intra-GSTP trade in seafood, especially inter-regional [trade],” the report said.
The report found many GSTP parties have little overlapping competition in certain species, making tariffs to protect domestic products unnecessary for such seafood as Argentine frozen hake, Indonesian crab, Nicaraguan conch, and Mozambican rock lobster.
The report also suggests a global initiative to harmonize import and export codes and requirements, and the sharing of technology and expertise, as means to boost the seafood economy. The GSTP also aims to foster sustainable ecosystem-based management of seafood resources which, in turn, would offer nations a means of ensuring food security, especially as many countries in the Global South deal with overfishing in their waters.
Kevin Fitzsimmons, an aquaculture specialist and an environmental science professor at the University of Arizona, said UNCTAD’s efforts are encouraging.
“Sanitary and environmental trade measures are a necessary evil as consumers in other countries have legitimate concerns, whereas general tariffs and subsidies are usually counterproductive for both sides,” Fitzsimmons told SeafoodSource. “The U.N. involvement in pointing these out and facilitating more free-trade and negotiated arrangements to expand trade should be supported.”
According to Fitzsimmons, the most harmful trade restrictions have come from the U.S. and China, which have imposed tariffs, bans, and “unnecessary trade measures” on farmed seafood products that compete with domestic wild-caught products.
“If aqua-farmers can invest in broodstocks and hatcheries, build a farm, pay to feed their animals, harvest and package, and ship to China or the U.S. at lower cost than American or Chinese fishers can bring them to market," he said. "That is just the same as any terrestrial farmer putting product on the plate at lower cost than hunters and gatherers can on land.”
Antidumping duties and fishery disaster declarations have been some of the most egregious recent examples of protectionism, Fitzimmons said, as they hurt international fish farmers aiming to crack the U.S. market.
“Declarations of fishery disasters, which are becoming popular in the U.S., are examples of dying industries trying to compete with farmed products versus wild-caught,” he said. “Land farmers outcompeted hunters and gatherers hundreds of years ago; fishers are just realizing this now and are fighting a losing battle. Going to governmental allies to erect trade barriers and provide subsidies will only extend the agony.”
Fitzsimmons called for a more equitable distribution of seafood industry resources.
"Value-adding in producing or exporting countries is also a real benefit that should be encouraged," Fitzsimmons said.
