Fisheries committee  I'm sorry, leaders on what front?

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. Pressure groups have been set up in these countries. There is one group called Friends of the Fish, and the United States, Australia and New Zealand are members. I suspect that Canada is also a member, but keeps it quiet. Then you have the recalcitrants, such as the Japanese, who want nothing to do with all of this.

Fisheries committee  The text explicitly places traditional fisheries in the green box.

Fisheries committee  Exactly.

Fisheries committee  As I said, the agreement makes no mention of any specific species. It covers all species and refers the issue of overfishing to international organizations such as the FAO. This is a solution the WTO has chosen to avoid having to deal with the problem. Obviously, the WTO is not an expert body in environmental issues.

Fisheries committee  Yes, of course.

Fisheries committee  No, excuse me. There is a subsidy if you have two things: a financial contribution by a government—

Fisheries committee  —and a benefit to the recipient. If you don't have a financial contribution by a government, there is no subsidy.

Fisheries committee  After April.

Fisheries committee  After April, for example, once the principle of adopting the text is agreed upon, all the work that will be done after April is just writing the text. The substance will not be modified.

Fisheries committee  What happens is that you have 150 countries negotiating. If in two months there is no change, things are finished.

Fisheries committee  The text clearly stipulates that any construction work carried out on ports that is directly related to fishing falls into the red box. If, however, the work is more general, and is not directly related to fishing, it is not prohibited. It would not be in the red box.

Fisheries committee  If the subsidy is for management issues, it's allowed. If the subsidy is directed to the management of the fishery--for example, the environmental impact or something like that--it's in the green box.

Fisheries committee  It's a political economy question. My impression is that the only real debate now is for developing countries, countries like India, for example. One aspect we didn't talk about is that even when something is permitted, you have to have fisheries management. For Canada it's not a problem, but for many developing countries it's going to cost a lot.

Fisheries committee  There is perhaps an important detail here. The subsidy is targeted according to the country that gives the subsidy, not the flag of the boat. For example, if Canada gives a subsidy to a boat that has a Panamanian flag, the subsidy is targeted. It is very clear in the text. What you are talking about as leeway is limited.