World Trade Organization fisheries agreement comes into force, curbing harmful subsidies

The World Trade Organization is celebrating a landmark fisheries deal aimed at curbing susidies that contribute to the depletion of fish stocks. It's the first agreement for the global trade body to have environmental sustainability at its core.

At a special General Council meeting on Monday, World Trade Organization (WTO) members celebrated the entry into force of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which commits members to curbing billions of dollars in annual spending on the most harmful subsidies that contribute to the depletion of marine fish stocks. 

The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is the WTO's first multilateral agreement with environmental sustainability at its core. It prohibits government support to illegal fishing activities and overexploitation of stocks, contributing to the protection of marine life. 

At the meeting, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala received the instruments of acceptance of the Agreement from Brazil, Kenya, and Viet Nam and Tonga, bringing the total number of acceptances over the threshold of two-thirds of WTO members needed for the Agreement to enter into force. 

DG Okonjo-Iweala signed the official depositary notification of the Agreement's entry into force and handed it to General Council Chair Ambassador Saqer Abdullah Almoqbel of Saudi Arabia, marking the official integration of the Agreement into the WTO legal framework. 

Milestone

Members hailed the Agreement as a major milestone for the WTO, emphasizing that it confirms their commitment to the multilateral trading system and to a more sustainable planet. They also pledged to start implementing the Agreement, underscoring the key role it will play in restoring fish stocks, protecting the livelihoods of fishing communities and promoting food security. 

By establishing rules that prohibit the worst forms of harmful fisheries subsidies, the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies will help to protect the world’s fish stocks and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people who depend on fisheries for food, income and employment. 

Adopted by consensus at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022, the Agreement's disciplines prohibit subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, for fishing overfished stocks, and for fishing on the unregulated high seas. 

In 2021, 35.5 per cent of global fish stocks were overfished compared with 10 per cent in 1974. 

It is estimated that subsidies to marine fishing activities total USD 35 billion per year globally. 

Of this amount, around USD 22 billion are considered to be harmful, contributing to the depletion of marine stocks. 

Ministers have established the WTO Fish Fund to provide developing economies and least-developed countries (LDCs) with technical assistance and capacity-building needed to implement the new obligations and manage their own fisheries more sustainably. 

Seventeen members have pledged the equivalent of more than USD 18 million to the WTO Fish Fund. 

In early June, the Fund launched its first Call for Proposals inviting eligible members that have ratified the Agreement to submit requests for project grants aimed at supporting them implement the Agreement. Applications are due by 9 October. 

To oversee implementation of the Agreement, a Committee on Fisheries Subsidies will be established to maintain regular dialogue on members' fishing practices and subsidies and to increase transparency on governments' practices.