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|  At international level, governance arrangements are often inadequate and do not result in effective management of fisheries. Reasons often include: weak decision-making mechanisms, ineffective enforcement and conflict resolution, the ecosystem and the jurisdiction boundaries do not coincide, and in most developing regions a lack of human and financial resources. The relationship between environmental and fisheries conventions and agreements is also a problem. Issues that are frequently raised in relation to good governance practices are the use of subsidies in fisheries, participation and transparency of management, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. However, a number of important international instruments adopted during the last decade of the 20th century have improved the governance framework. The 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing are among the most important of them. Similarly, the FAO International Plans of Action (IPOAs) adopted by FAO member states improve the likelihood of improved governance of fisheries.Fish is a highly perishable commodity and, if not handled properly, quality deteriorates which can have detrimental consequences for the health of consumers. By then end of the 20th century, about 75 % of the fish produced was used for direct human consumption while the remaining 25% was reduced to fishmeal and oil. Of the fish destined for direct human consumption, the volume marketed as fresh fish nearly doubled during the 1990s. At the end of the 1990s, fresh fish was the most important fishery product (40% of the market), followed by frozen fish (about 30%), canned fish (about 14 percent) and cured fish (12 percent). With almost a third of world fish production now being traded internationally, quality and safety assurance has become an important issue. | | |  Considerable progress has been made in recent decades to establish international agreed standards and procedures that assure consumers a good quality fish products. Also WTO members have agreed sets of rules designed to prevent states using quality and safety issues as trade barriers. However, problems arise in the use of these standards, procedures and rules. The hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) system, a systematic and preventive approach for the assurance of food safety and quality, is now accepted worldwide as the most cost-effective system for quality and safety assurance and has been made mandatory in many countries. But differences arise in the way the system is implemented in practice. | | | | The Codex Alimentarius (the food code) of FAO and the World Health Organization, established in 1961, is a voluntary code, establishing international standards for food safety and quality. However, the WTO Agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade and on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures are binding instruments intended to ensure that safety and quality standards are used fairly in trade. In its dispute settlement procedures the WTO restors , inter alia, to the Codex Alimentarius standards. This calls into question their voluntary character of the Codex Alimentarious standards. | | | | |
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1076 Topics - 5135 Related Knowledge - 2534 Members - 34 Editors |
