Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

FAO Fisheries

The Fisheries Department of FAO facilitates and secures long-term sustainable development and utilization of the world's fisheries and aquaculture. FAO is fully aware of the fundamental social and economic role played by the fisheries sector  in meeting global and national sustainable food security, providing self and paid employment for fishing communities as a means of alleviating poverty, contributing to national and international trade and generating national income. On request from members, the FAO Fisheries Department provides technical assistance in all aspects of fisheries and aquaculture management and development.

FAO Fisheries

This on-line statistical database provides comprehensive data on aquaculture, total production, fisheries commodities production and trade, Eastern Central Atlantic capture production, Mediterranean and Black Sea capture production and Southeast Atlantic capture production. Data is downloadable to personal computers together with a data retrieval, graphical and analytical software.

The international organization dealing with trade issues between nations. It is platform used by member governments to sort trade disputes. This link also contains the list of all WTO agreements concluded and on-going among its member countries.

This institution administers various agreements on non-tariff barriers to trade. They include the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) agreements. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) is currently working on various fish trade-related disputes between member states generated by alleged violations to the TBT agreement in particular.

World Customs Organisation (WCO)

About the Harmonised System

The Harmonised System was created by WCO on 1 January 1988. The system refers to a multipurpose international classification for about 5000 commodity groups. They are identified by a six digit codes set according to a clear and consistent for uniform classification. At present the the codes are being used by more than 190 countries as a basis for their Customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics. Over 98 % of the merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the HS.

Indian Ocean Tuan Commission (IOTC)

An intergovernmental organization that manages tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas. It promotes cooperation among its Members in ensuring the conservation and optimum utilisation of stocks besides encouraging sustainable development of fisheries. Among its functions and responsibilities are to review the status and trends of stocks, analyse and disseminate scientific information, catch effort statistics, encourage, recommend and coordinate research and development activities, adopt conservation and management measures according to scientific evidence and many others.

WTO and Fisheries
FAO factsheet on fisheries prepared for WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong Market
Access for Non-Agricultural Products