Fischler faces wrath of Parliament; EU lifts ban on certain Chinese products; Eight countries lobby WTO on fishing subsidies; US raises barriers to catfish, shrimps; Norwegian exports still down; Chile curbs salmon expansion

摘要

EU Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler will have to answer questions from the European Parliament's fisheries committee next week about the continuing delay in publication of the Commission's proposals for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, aswell as the apparent sacking of the Commission's Director-General for fisheries. Meanwhile, a coalition of 'green' groups and the English fishermen's federation is lobbying Fischler and Commission President Romano Prodi to prevent any weakening of the Commission's proposals under Spanish pressure. The EU has decided to lift its ban on a range of fisheries and other products from China, imposed following the discovery of dangerous antibiotic residues. However, farmed fish products remain under the ban.Following the efforts of the Philippines, seven other countries have joined the campaign to get fishing subsidies on the agenda of the WTO, forming a group called 'Friends of Fish'. They face strong opposition from Korea and Japan. The labelling regulations in the new US Farm Bill tighten the ban on Vietnamese fish being sold as 'catfish'. Meanwhile, new bans have been imposed on Indonesian and Haitian shrimps due to alleged damage to turtles during fishing. The volume of Norwegian seafood exports increased sharply in April, but their value in the first four months of the year remains 11 percent behind that of last year. The drop in salmon prices has particularly hit exports to the EU and Japanese markets, but other markets have improved. Chilean exports of salmon and trout increased by just 9 percent in the first three months of this year, compared with last year, indicating that efforts to curb production in line with market demand are taking effect.