Athman Seif, Executive Director of the Kenyan Marine Forum, first gave an overview of the crisis of Kenyan fisheries. Athman is from Malindi on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. His story will be eerily familiar to those of you who have been following our Defending Our Oceans tour. Sea food prices are rising in the market of Malindi, as fish stocks are declining and more and more fish are stolen for export by foreign trawlers. Regulations are lacking. And those that do exist, are not being enforced properly – not least, because resources to do so, are missing.

A sad tale – and if the World Trade Organization has its way, it will soon all get even worse. This is the conclusion of our new analysis of official data from government sources, on the impacts of trade liberalization. Trade liberalization in fisheries is nothing but a disaster for the marine environment as well as for food security and income, especially for developing countries. Case studies of Mauritania, Senegal and Argentina, in our report show this clearly. In Senegal, for example, catch rates for export fish species are falling, as stocks have dwindled after liberalization. At the same time, the local fish supply is diminishing, endangering national food security. Not even the economic case for liberalization is convincing. Argentina, for example, is estimated to have lost at least 3.5 million US dollars in future earnings by over-exploiting its fish resources after liberalization measures.

Key trade ministers will meet in Davos next week to try and “rescue” trade liberalization talks started at the World Trade Organization (WTO) five years ago. They will talk of development and how developing nations would be the main beneficiaries of liberalization. This will be mere rhetoric. If governments stopped ignoring their own evidence, they would have to admit that “zero tariff”, fully liberalized trade will be a disaster for fish as well as people. Prices may fall briefly for consumers in developed countries. But this will only lead to more demand for fish and therefore result in ever more excessive exploitation of export fish stocks all over the world - and less fish for the poor of the world. Eventually, as stocks decline, prices for sea-food will increase even in the developed world.

Governments should abandon trade liberalization in the fisheries sector and create proper management systems for fisheries globally. Otherwise they must stand accused of blindly pursuing free trade for free trade’s sake. Rather than force developing nations to accept trade liberalization at the World Trade Organization, developed nations should provide developing countries with the capacity and know-how to establish and enforce effective fisheries management as the basis for the future sustainable use of their resources. This of course includes the establishment of a world-wide network of marine reserves, both in the coastal waters and in the high seas.

That was our message today here in Nairobi. Will governments listen?