Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 78

PART 1 WORLD REVIEW
» Several factors affect access to international
seabass and seabream are highly traded, in
particular towards more prosperous markets.
Low-value species such as small pelagics are also
traded in large quantities, mainly exported to
low-income consumers in developing countries.
However, in recent years, emerging economies in
developing regions have increasingly been
importing species of higher value for domestic
consumption.
markets by exporting countries. Structural
problems in some countries can affect the quality of
fish products, contributing to product loss or
difficulty in marketing them. Other hurdles include
non-tariff trade measures such as required product
standards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures,
procedures for import licensing, rules of origin and
conformity assessment; and handling of customs
classifications, valuation and clearance procedures,
including lengthy or duplicative certification
procedures and customs fees. In the near future,
the full implementation of the WTO Trade
Facilitation Agreement, which entered into force in
2017, is expected to expedite the movement, release
and clearance of goods across borders, reducing
these negative influences on trade.
Accurate and detailed trade statistics are
essential for monitoring and understanding the
global market in terms of its structure, dynamics
and impact on the environment. They can play a
key role in monitoring the trade of endangered
species and of products sourced from IUU
activities and can be used to support appropriate
fisheries management – but only if statistics are
accurate and species and product forms are
specified, to the extent possible. In collating trade
data on fish and fish products, FAO uses the
maximum level of detail made available by the
countries. The basis for the recording of trade
statistics by all countries is the Harmonized
Commodit y Description and Coding System (HS),
developed and maintained by the World Customs
Organization ( WCO). Countries may develop
more detailed national classifications based on
HS to take into account additional species or
product forms relevant to the countr y. Through
FAO’s initiative, the coverage of HS codes on fish
and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic
invertebrates was revised in 2012 and 2017 to
address the issue of inadequate breakdown by
species and product forms. However, despite
these improvements, many countries still provide
little breakdown of information.
The W TO Agreement on Technical Barriers to
Trade (TBT Agreement) aims to ensure that
compulsor y technical reg ulations and voluntar y
standards such as qualit y, packaging and
labelling requirements are non-discriminator y
and do not constitute unnecessar y obstacles to
trade, while at the same time recognizing their
function in protecting human health and the
environment. Developing countries are
particularly susceptible to the trade-inhibiting
consequences of reg ulations and standards, as
compliance is constrained by high costs and
relatively low capacit y in terms of infrastructure,
technolog y and expertise. For fish and fish
products, the reg ulations and standards
associated with the environmental dimensions of
the production process are most relevant in this
regard, as they are many and diverse. This is an
area of significant potential for trade conf licts if
an appropriate balance between fair market
access and environmental concerns is not
achieved. In general, the proliferation of multiple
standards in different markets increases the
likelihood of such conf licts. The TBT Agreement
therefore encourages the cooperative
development of international standards and
conformit y assessment systems.
Furthermore, international trade statistics do not
disting uish between wild and farmed origin of
products, and national statistics rarely do so,
despite the rapid growth of the aquaculture
sector and the growing proportion of farmed
species and products. Hence, the breakdown
between products of capture fisheries and
aquaculture in international trade is open to
interpretation. The most recent estimates
attribute about one-quarter of traded quantities
and one-third of traded value to aquaculture
products. This share is even higher if trade in
non-food fish commodities (including fishmeal,
fish oil and fish for ornamental purposes) is
Main commodities
Trade of fish and fish products is characterized by
an enormous diversit y of species and product
forms. High-value species such as shrimp,
prawns, salmon, tuna, groundfish, f latfish,
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