[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3518 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3518

 To make it a principal negotiating objective of the United States in 
trade negotiations to eliminate government fisheries subsidies, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 2, 2012

   Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To make it a principal negotiating objective of the United States in 
trade negotiations to eliminate government fisheries subsidies, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Trade in Seafood Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of 
        the United Nations, 85 percent of the world's fisheries are 
        overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted, or 
        recovering from overexploitation, the highest percentage ever 
        on record.
            (2) A primary reason for the global fisheries crisis is 
        government subsidies that create perverse incentives for 
        continued fishing in the face of declining catches.
            (3) Despite the dire conditions of the world's marine 
        resources, some of the countries that engage in the most 
        fishing continue to provide significant subsidies to their 
        fishing fleets.
            (4) Fisheries subsidies are estimated to be approximately 
        20 percent of the value of the world catch and have helped 
        create a global fishing fleet that is up to 250 percent larger 
        than that needed to fish sustainably.
            (5) Many long-range foreign fleets are supported by 
        government subsidies for fuel, other operational expenses, and 
        vessel construction that allow their fleets to fish longer, at 
        greater distances, and more intensively than is commercially or 
        environmentally warranted. Those fleets would not be viable 
        without the support of government subsidies.
            (6) Many developing countries are particularly affected by 
        fisheries subsidies provided by other governments because the 
        developing countries are unable to compete against subsidized 
        industrial fleets.
            (7) Fisheries subsidies offered by the governments of other 
        countries give the fleets of those countries an unfair 
        advantage over United States fishermen by reducing the costs of 
        operations and increasing the number, size, and power of 
        vessels competing for fish. Foreign fisheries subsidies also 
        undermine opportunities for United States fishermen in 
        potential export markets.
            (8) Without committed global leadership to reduce 
        ``overfishing subsidies'', there is a significant risk that the 
        oceans will become too depleted to fish, resulting in a 
        catastrophic blow to the world economy and environment.
            (9) As one of the world's largest importers of seafood and 
        one of the top five exporters of seafood, the United States has 
        a particular responsibility to lead trade negotiations to 
        address fisheries subsidies and make the establishment of 
        strong new rules on fisheries subsidies a core priority in 
        United States trade negotiations.
            (10) Paragraphs 28 and 31 of the Ministerial Declaration of 
        the World Trade Organization adopted at Doha November 14, 2001, 
        which launched the Doha Development Agenda, called for 
        negotiations to clarify and improve disciplines on trade-
        distorting government fisheries subsidies.
            (11) Paragraphs 9 through 11 of Annex D of the Ministerial 
        Declaration of the World Trade Organization adopted at Hong 
        Kong December 18, 2005, reinforced the Doha fisheries subsidies 
        mandate, noting that ``there is broad agreement that the Group 
        should strengthen disciplines on subsidies in the fisheries 
        sector, including through the prohibition of certain forms of 
        fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and over-
        fishing'' and calling on ``Participants promptly to undertake 
        further detailed work to, inter alia, establish the nature and 
        extent of those disciplines, including transparency and 
        enforceability''.
            (12) The negotiations on fisheries subsidies in the World 
        Trade Organization and negotiations for the Trans-Pacific 
        Partnership Agreement are two of the most important, and 
        promising, international efforts to stop global overfishing and 
        represent meaningful efforts to directly address a key 
        environmental issue that directly impacts international trade.
            (13) On November 12, 2011, the leaders of the 9 countries 
        in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement--
        Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, 
        Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States--announced the 
        achievement of the broad outlines of an ambitious, 21st-century 
        agreement. According to a statement released by those leaders, 
        the agreed outline calls for ``[a] meaningful outcome on 
        environment [that] will ensure that the agreement appropriately 
        addresses important trade and environment challenges and 
        enhances the mutual supportiveness of trade and environment. 
        The TPP countries share the view that the environment text 
        should include effective provisions on trade-related issues 
        that would help to reinforce environmental protection and are 
        discussing an effective institutional arrangement to oversee 
        implementation and a specific cooperation framework for 
        addressing capacity building needs.''. Various proposals, 
        including a proposal by the United States, to bring disciplines 
        to government-subsidized fishing are under active discussion as 
        part of the negotiations on the environment chapter of the 
        Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
            (14) The United States continues to make achievement of an 
        agreement on disciplines on government fisheries subsidies a 
        priority in negotiations in the World Trade Organization and 
        for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. On December 16, 
        2011, at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade 
        Organization in Geneva, the United States Trade Representative 
        issued a statement urging ``continued work toward an ambitious 
        outcome on fisheries subsidies under the WTO''. Noting the 
        acute impact of declining catches on developing countries, the 
        Trade Representative further stated, ``We stand ready to 
        explore new negotiating approaches that can move us towards the 
        elimination of harmful subsidies that contribute to 
        overcapacity and overfishing. . . . WTO Members have a duty to 
        address one of the root causes of overfishing and 
        overcapacity--the fisheries subsidies that encourage fishing 
        enterprises to fish longer, harder, and farther than would 
        otherwise be sustainable without subsidy aid. . . . The United 
        States is ready to continue this work in the WTO and in other 
        appropriate fora--including free trade agreements such as the 
        Trans-Pacific Partnership and other bilateral, regional and 
        multilateral initiatives.''.
            (15) A strong fisheries subsidies agreement by the World 
        Trade Organization and in the Trans-Pacific Partnership 
        Agreement would set an historic precedent by showing that 
        international trade can directly benefit the environment while 
        promoting exports and open markets.

SEC. 3. TRADE NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES OF THE UNITED STATES WITH RESPECT 
              TO GOVERNMENT FISHERIES SUBSIDIES.

    It shall be a principal negotiating objective of the United States 
in negotiations for a trade agreement--
            (1) to eliminate fisheries subsidies provided by 
        governments that unfairly distort markets to the detriment of 
        United States commercial fishing interests and that perpetuate 
        unsustainable fishing practices; and
            (2) to ensure that any commitments with respect to such 
        subsidies are enforceable under appropriate trade laws.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act takes effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and 
applies with respect to negotiations for a trade agreement that--
            (1) include any negotiations relating to the elimination or 
        reduction of government fisheries subsidies; and
            (2) are entered into--
                    (A) on or after such date of enactment; or
                    (B) before such date of enactment if the 
                negotiations continue on or after such date of 
                enactment.
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