USA: Ron KIRK (new USTR) on fisheries subsidies

Here are the written answers provided by Ron Kirk, the new US Trade Representative, to the "FINANCE COMMITTEE QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD" put at the confirmation hearing held on 9 March 2009:

Questions from Chairman Baucus:

Question 23:

Global fisheries are being rapidly depleted, and environmentally harmful subsidies in many countries contribute to their decline. The United States has been a leader in the WTO negotiations aimed at ending harmful fishing subsidies. Will you continue to take a leadership role in these negotiations?

Answer: Yes

Questions from Senator Grassley :

Question 14(ii):

The President’s Trade Policy Agenda also states that we need to ask how trade policycan address the depletion of fisheries. The World Trade Organization is already addressing the issue of fisheries subsidies in theDoha Development Round trade negotiations, and the United States has been an activeparticipant in those negotiations for many years. Do you have additional ideas for how the Administration could address the fisheries issue?

Answer: My understanding is that WTO negotiations have made some progress on this issue. I will be reviewing the fisheries aspects of those negotiations and will look forward to working with you to consider other approaches as well.

When reading these replies I was struck by two things: the first is the "laconic" reply to the question by Senator Baucus. The second is the very intriguing end of the second sentence to Senator Grassley's question. What does Mr Kirk mean by "[...] and will look forward to working with you to consider other approaches as well."?

Here is the link to the document with the written answers:

http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/testimony/2009test/031109QFRs%20for%20SubmissionRK.pdf