Canadian government financial intervention in a marine fishery: The case of newfoundland, 1972/73–1980/81

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Abstract
Trade in fish products between Canada and the United States has been the subject of extensive legal activity in the latter country. United States fishing interests have repeatedly attempted to utilize provisions in U.S. law and in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to have countervailing duties imposed on imports of Canadian fish products, the prices of which are alleged to be artificially depressed by Canadian government financial support of the industry. This paper summarizes the state of U.S. and international law on countervailing duties, and surveys recent legal activity on the matter. It then presents hitherto uncollected evidence on government financial support of a major Canadian fishery, the Newfoundland groundfishery. It is found that the total value of expenditures was equal to 31 percent of the value of total fish products in 1980/81. However, subsidies as defined by the U.S. International Trade Administration, in accordance with U.S. law and the GATT, amounted to only 4.5 percent of the value of total fish products in that year.