India-ASEAN free trade agreement: Implications for fisheries

Abstract

Against the backdrop of stalling multilateralism and proliferating regional trade initiatives, India signed a regional trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in August 2009. But the agreement has raised apprehensions on the possibility of large-scale import of commodities from the ASEAN countries, affecting the livelihood of many stakeholders. Fisheries is one area of concern since some of the ASEAN members – Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia – are leading exporters of fisheries products. Using simple revealed comparative advantage indices, this paper looks at the likely impact of the agreement on India's fisheries trade by identifying the complementarity and competing product categories. The simulation results show that tariff reduction will have a trade creation effect, an improvement in welfare and limited tariff revenue decline. The study also shows that the India-ASEAN FTA may not lead to large-scale import of marine products and affect the livelihood of fisherfolk.