WITH a trade agreement between South Africa and the European Union (EU) still being negotiated, the country could miss the boat on taking advantage of the EU’s move last week to drastically reduce fishing in its waters to save dwindling fish stocks.
A gap has emerged in the EU fish market because the bloc has agreed to end overfishing in its waters by 2015 — 2020 for some exceptional species — after fish stocks had dwindled precariously. Eurostat has released data showing that fish catches have fallen from more than 8-million tons in 1995 to 4.9-million tons in 2010.
South Africa has an already established European market for its sustainably managed deep-water trawler-caught hake, but high export tariffs are a hurdle to the country’s other fish. The industry cannot charge the same premium as it charges for the hake.
This species is South Africa’s only fish stock with the sought-after Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation indicating its operations ensured sustainable fish stocks. The accreditation enables sellers to charge a premium for the flesh.
Department of Trade and Industry trade division chief Xavier Carrim said at the weekend there was "a deal in the making" for South Africa’s fish, but that it formed part of the long-negotiated economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) and the EU. Without that agreement, EU import tariffs for other species of fish caught in South African waters were high.
Jeremy Marillier, spokesman for industry body Fish SA, said it was "not impossible, but unlikely" that the country would be able to take advantage of last week’s EU decision. This was because of the bloc’s import tariffs for South African fish other than the deep-water trawler-caught hake.
The EU’s €1bn a year common fisheries policy has been blamed for driving decades of over-fishing, with generous subsidies leading to over-capacity in the fishing fleet. The European Commission estimates that 75% of European fish stocks are over-fished, compared with just 25% worldwide.
As part of the new deal, EU fishing nations must reduce the size of their fleets to reflect their quotas, lose some subsidies. The deal must be rubber-stamped by EU governments and the European Parliament before taking effect.
Mr Marillier said about 90% of South Africa’s total allowable catch of 150,000 tons of deep-water trawler-caught hake was sold to the EU, earning the sector R1.9bn a year, because of its MSC accreditation.
The hake long-line fishery missed out on MSC accreditation in 2008, which fishing industry analyst Shaheen Moolla in part attributed to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ refusal to help it pay the fees. Not gaining MSC accreditation caused a collapse of the fishery, which in 2008 got R40/kg but now achieved R2.30/kg (net profit before tax). The cost of putting boats to sea outweighed profits, Mr Moolla said.
Requests for comment from the department drew a blank at the weekend, but Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson told Parliament last week her department would continue to participate in trade negotiations and forums "to enhance the interests of the South African agricultural sector".
Mr Marillier said South Africa’s hake faced competition from Namibia and Argentina. Namibian hake had duty-free access to the EU through the Cotonou Agreement.
Mr Carrim said there was "steady progress" on securing an EPA between the Sacu and the EU, with the next talks in two weeks’ time.
EU ambassador Roeland van de Geer said talks between the bloc and the Southern African Development Community were "still in full swing" and negotiators remained optimistic a deal would soon be concluded.
Original Article Here
No comments:
Post a Comment