The Fisheries Industry Submits a Petition to the Government Opposing CPTPP Membership

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (Suhyup) conveyed the stance of fishermen nationwide opposing the pursuit of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) membership without measures to protect the fisheries industry to the government. They urged the government to establish policies to strengthen the competitiveness of the fisheries sector.

On the morning of the 17th, Suhyup held a CPTPP Countermeasures Committee meeting at its headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and adopted the "Petition Against CPTPP Membership from Fishermen," which contained these points.

The CPTPP Countermeasures Committee is an organization composed of the Suhyup Central Association president, regional Suhyup cooperative heads nationwide, the president of the Korea Fisheries Management Association, and the president of the Korea Women Fishers Association, established to respond to the government's unilateral push for CPTPP membership.

In the petition, fishermen nationwide pointed out the problems that would arise from joining the CPTPP, stating, "Restrictions on fisheries subsidies will increase fishing operation costs, and the full liberalization of seafood imports will expand damage to the fisheries industry."

Regarding this, the committee highlighted that unlike existing trade agreements, the CPTPP regulations prohibit subsidies that negatively affect fishery resources in an overfished state.

Accordingly, the fisheries sector demands that through the fishermen protection measures included in this petition, it be clearly stated that the fisheries subsidies currently provided to fishermen are not prohibited subsidies under CPTPP regulations, even if Korea joins the CPTPP.

As protection measures for fishermen, they emphasized ▲ applying non-taxation rather than tax exemption after taxation on petroleum products used for fishing ▲ expanding the scope of the Fisheries Public Direct Payment System that subsidizes public interest functions ▲ strengthening the social insurance nature of fisheries policy insurance.

Meanwhile, the CPTPP is a multilateral trade agreement formed in 2018 by 11 Asia-Pacific countries including Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and Canada. After the United States withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017, the remaining countries led the formation of the CPTPP.

The Yoon Seok-yeol administration is actively pursuing CPTPP membership following the previous government. However, the agriculture and fisheries sectors oppose joining the membership due to concerns about potential damage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.