Environmental Related Disputes On Gatt / Wto

Overfishing is a death sentence to the world’s oceans. As technology continues to improve a great deal of fish can be caught quicker; but at what cost? The effects of overfishing can lead to the extinction of not just the animals being fished, but also the predators that rely on fish to eat. Ninety percent of the ocean’s largest animals have been wiped out due to overfishing (“Overfishing- A Global Disaster”, 2011). National Geographic cites the academic journal Science (2006) that predicts by 2048, all fisheries will collapse due to lack of ocean wildlife. Fish are not the only animal caught in the nets used by fishing vessels. Often animals such as dolphins, sharks, turtles, and seabirds are

On February 17th, 2004, Donald Thomas began sending his vessels into the vicinity of Ecuador’s coastal waters to fish for tuna. Thomas and his fleet of three tuna boats were fishing approximately 185

Instead of keeping the dolphins in the nets that they catch the other fish with, they are required to release the dolphins from the net as soon as possible(NOAA 5). This is done carefully so that “the dolphins are released alive(NOAA 6).” This allows more dolphins, despite still being bycatch, to live through the process and carry on with their lives. They also catch tuna in ways other than following dolphins, such as using logs or tuna caught on a trip in which no dolphins are harmed(NOAA 12). This type of tuna fishing allows fishing industries to put the Dolphin-Safe label on their tuna(NOAA 11). Fishing industries have already taken the necessary actions to stop cetacean bycatch as much as they can. How much they have changed their gear and their methods in order to compensate for the cetaceans supports that cetacean bycatch is no longer an

The earliest accounts of overfishing occurred in the 1800s, when the demand of whale blubber nearly wiped out the whale populations. In the mid 1900s, the harvesting of Atlantic cod, herring, and California sardines drove them to the brink of extinction. These high disruptions cause regional depletions of animal resources which is starting to cause a global problem. There has never been a more urgent time for fishing nations to make a commitment towards the sustainability of our oceans. More than 80% of the world’s fisheries have been, or are being pushed beyond their limits and are in dire need of strict management plans. Populations of fish and elasmobranch fish such as tuna, grouper and sharks have been declining to the point where the survival

Driven by such high prices, many fishermen, chefs and business owners depend on the bluefin tuna industry for a way to support their lives. Respectively so, without sustainable fishing practices and stricter regulations for the bluefin tuna, neither Japan, nor the rest of the world will even have the choice on whether or not eating and fishing bluefin tuna should be an option (Crockett).

The amount of cetacean bycatch in the fishing industries of the world has decreased incredibly since it was first announced as a problem(NOAA 8). In the 1960’s, there was an estimated number of 500,000 dolphins caught as bycatch per year by fishing industries alone(NOAA 8). There was an act, the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, that was passed in 1972. This act’s main goal was to reduce marine mammal bycatch. This act required that “scientific studies were initiated, observers were placed on fishing boats, fishing gear was inspected,

Oceanic Victor claim that the tuna cage will not attract any more sharks than usual, which is odd to say as in other circumstances in tuna pens shark wranglers have been hired to cut free sharks that have been stuck in the nets.[4] “Tuna cages attract sharks, which are drawn to fish which sometimes die in the pens and settle in the bottoms of the floating nets. Inquisitive sharks may bite holes in nets and enter the cages or become entangled in the nets and subsequently become distressed or drown. In response, employees of tuna ranching operations will either enter the water and attempt to wrestle the sharks out of the pens, or kill the shark. Species known to interact with southern bluefin tuna operations include hammerhead sharks, bronze whalers and great white sharks. The latter species is protected under federal Australian legislation while the former two are not. Some of these interactions are shown in the documentary film, Tuna Wranglers (2007).” [3]

Throughout the years, marine mammal bycatch has continued to be a growing concern due to a steady increase in mammal mortality rates. Mike Gaworecki mentions in his article that during this past month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initiated a rule limiting seafood imports from different countries that do not meet the United States new bycatch standards. Bycatch is a term that means catching unwanted species when intending to fish for a different type of species. On a daily basis multiple dolphins, whales, and other unwanted animals are being captured because of inappropriate or ill-suited forms of netting and traps. By implementing this rule the United States government hopes to prevent and reduce future cases of inappropriate capture. NOAA claims that they feel this is necessary because they want to enforce more restrictions on fishery related marine mammal deaths, while influencing other countries to improve on their fishing methods.

The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos, is an award winning documentary that spotlights how the Japanese hunt and kill dolphins by the tens of thousands and how a group of people try to stop and expose this to the world. The chapter about the International Whaling Commission (IWC) brings forward a few key points that need to be discussed. The IWC is a group of nations that come together and make decisions based on how they can preserve cetaceans. The smaller cetaceans, like dolphins, are not protected under the bigger umbrella. In order to bypass the rules of the IWC, a loophole is used; a nation can claim that they are killing and collecting whales for research and the IWC will not stop them. The Japanese are trying to legalize whaling worldwide.

Cetacean bycatch is an ongoing problem in the oceans of the world. Cetaceans are defined as whales, dolphins and porpoises(CBRC 1). Bycatch is “marine mammals that are “captured” but discarded”(Read 2). This happens when fishing industries are fishing for a certain type of marine animal and other marine animals are caught accidentally along with the intended catch. Many times, this leads to the death of the animal that was not meant to be caught, and the animal is tossed back into the ocean. This happens with all kinds of marine life, and it has caused the depletion of many different species. However, this is specifically bad for cetaceans, such as dolphins and whales, because they have such a long lifespan(Brown 2). They also take a very long time to mature(Brown 2). These factors make catching these animals very detrimental to the species as a whole because it takes longer for them to reach an age where they can reproduce(Brown 2). The population of many cetaceans have decreased exponentially. When there is someone watching the nets that cetaceans are accidentally caught in, many times they can be saved. However, there are only select few types of fishing methods that do this, and they are not of the prevalent fishing methods that produce cetacean bycatch. This is a problem because there is a connection between most living animals. If a certain part of the connection is eliminated, it will all fall apart. For example, the relationship between

Our plan has the United States Department of Interior banning all commercial fishing in Marine Protected Areas,and establishing and enforcing regulations for the recreational use of these areas. The practice of bottom trawling will be banned in U.S. ocean fisheries. This plan will decrease the worry of losing all our fish in the sea. We are harvesting more fish that can be replenished, so banning the practice of bottom trawling and other fishing practices in Marine Protected Areas put fish like tuna in danger. The decrease in tuna cause the marine food chain to change thus causing an abundance of smaller fish such as sardines and anchovies. “Declines of top predators may cascade down food webs, and the implications of these cascading processes

Approximately 1.3 million U.S. households are home to salt water fish (Pet Statistics). These fish are not swimming about in oceans or other salty bodies of water; instead they are confined to small tanks where their lifespans can be shortened by over ten years. But how did these fish end up here? Illegal activity has brought “up to 90 percent of the 11 million tropic fish” (Bruckner 17) to the United States each year, causing detrimental effects to both the fish and surrounding marine life. The marine aquarium industry is in desperate need of reform and is one of the most pressing enviornmental issues today, despite its easy solution. The aquarium fish trade needs to be regulated in order

The World Trade Organization was formed on January 1, 1995 however; its trade system is almost 50 years older. Since 1948, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) had provided the rules for the system. The main purpose for the World Trade Organization is to offer a forum for negotiation of trade between member Governments. The bulk of these agreements came from the 1986-1994 Uruguay Round negotiations, as well as from the GATT. Currently, the WTO is host to a new set of negotiations under the “Doha Development Agenda” launched in 2001. At the center of the WTO, are the agreements reached between the majorities of the world’s trading nations. These documents provide legal guidelines (and rules) for international commerce and general business. These agreements are ultimately viewed as contracts, binding the participating governments to keeping their trade policies within agreed limits. The system’s overriding purpose is to help trade flow freely for the economic development and well being of participating governments and their countries.

Well-organized structure. There is clear defined stages and the fixed timetable to follow during the dispute settlement procedure. This dispute settlement system indeed become more effective than that of GATT 1947 (Food Fight n.d.), which is capable of dealing with complicated cases.

The World Trade Organization (“WTO”) Dispute Settlement System and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) are two of the most widely used methods of international dispute settlement.