The Global Value Chain in Canned Tuna, the International Trade Regime and Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14

This paper examines the interaction of the international fisheries trade regime, global value chains in tuna and socio-economic development in low-income Commonwealth countries. The first section sketches the long historical relationship between European Union (EU) trade policy and domestic tuna processing in these countries. Even though the institutional landscape of trade policy is changing rapidly, the relationship for most of these countries has remained surprisingly relatively stable. Part of the explanation for this stability lies in the concentration of control of the EU-centred value chain in canned tuna by a small number of lead firms (‘chain governance’), which is explored in the second section. The third section analyses the actual and potential leverage of low-income Commonwealth states over segments of the tuna industry to ‘increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States [SIDS] and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources’ – a target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 on the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.1 The principal point of leverage examined is sovereign rights over fisheries access, which is set against the constraint of geographical isolation for many Commonwealth SIDS and the associated costs of ocean-going seafreight. With this set of analyses in mind, the final section reflects on the implementation by low income Commonwealth states of relevant trade-related components of SDG14.