To Help Improve Ocean Health, WTO Members Must Ratify Fisheries Subsidies Deal

Governments also must strengthen the agreement to better guard against overfishing and other ills

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To Help Improve Ocean Health, WTO Members Must Ratify Fisheries Subsidies Deal
A large silvery fish swims towards a school of smaller fish in the open ocean, with sunlight illuminating the deep blue water.
A yellowfin tuna launches towards a school of mackerel. Both tuna and mackerel stocks are affected by harmful fisheries subsidies that governments pay to large commercial fishing companies, enabling unsustainable fishing practices. The World Trade Organization recently adopted an agreement to limit harmful subsidies but now must ratify, implement and strengthen the deal.
Rodrigo Friscione Getty Images

An agreement secured last year that could help end overfishing around the world is awaiting completion within the World Trade Organization, and WTO members should act quickly to ratify and improve that deal. The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which the WTO adopted in June 2022, prohibits subsidies that enable illegal fishing, fishing of overfished stocks and fishing of unmanaged stocks on the high seas. However, WTO members still need to work on additional provisions regarding subsidies that incentivize fishing beyond sustainable levels.

The need to ratify the agreement now was one takeaway from a panel event co-organized by The Pew Charitable Trusts, Friends of Ocean Action, World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development at the WTO Public Forum 12 to 15 September in Geneva, Switzerland. The forum is the WTO’s largest annual outreach event, bringing together civil society, business, governments and intergovernmental organizations to discuss issues related to world trade.

The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is historic, establishing for the first time a set of binding global rules that will require governments to consider the legality and sustainability of the fishing activities they subsidize.

However, the agreement can only enter into force once it has been formally accepted by at least two-thirds of the WTO’s 164 member governments. Further, as part of the agreement, trade ministers committed to continue negotiations on overfishing and overcapacity—which is a fleet’s ability to harvest more fish than is sustainable—and to recommend new rules based on those negotiations at the February 2024 ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Five people sit at a large blonde-wood table facing an unseen audience, with large banners hanging behind them that read, “It is time for action” and “WTO Public Forum” in Spanish, English and French.
A panel discussion at the September WTO Public Forum in Geneva featured (from left): Alfredo Giron, head of the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action; Sebastian Mathew, executive director of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers; Alice Tipping, director of trade and sustainable development for the International Institute for Sustainable Development; Ambassador Nella Pepe Tavita-Levy, permanent representative of Samoa to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva; and Heike Vesper, chief executive, transformation politics and markets at WWF Germany.
The Pew Charitable Trusts

And in fact, at the Public Forum, panelists emphasized the need for an ambitious result from the second wave of negotiations in order to support fishing communities, protect the world’s ocean and build resilience to climate change.

Heike Vesper, chief executive, transformation politics and markets at WWF Germany, said implementing the agreement is critical to safeguarding ocean health, as is finalizing the additional rules. She noted that the current agreement is an important first step but added that harmful subsidies do damage beyond the situations covered by the agreement. And the ongoing negotiations represent a big opportunity to strengthen the agreement to ensure that subsidies do not contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, and that fisheries management measures are effective, without loopholes that could lead to subsidizing overfished stocks. Having comprehensive rules will be a big step forward in protecting the environment and improving food security.

Sebastian Mathew, executive director of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, emphasized how the new agreement could support the coastal communities that depend the most on healthy marine resources, including artisanal fishing communities. Although one of the key questions in the current negotiations is how rules will apply to small-scale fishers, exemptions for this group will need to be thoughtfully applied. The new negotiations must contribute to having better resource management that will allow small-scale fishers access to healthy stocks.

Ambassador Nella Pepe Tavita-Levy, permanent representative of Samoa to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva, made clear that additional rules on subsidies are needed and are a priority for the Pacific region. She noted that the six island nations that make up the Pacific negotiating group of the WTO were disappointed that a complete and ambitious agreement was not reached last year, since the region faces considerable fishing pressure from subsidized foreign fleets. Complementing the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies with additional rules to reduce capacity and address overfishing will help ensure resources’ long-term sustainability.

Alfredo Giron, head of the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action, showed how business and policy transformations are possible for a sustainable ocean and discussed how the fishing industry needs to adapt its business model to remain profitable once the fisheries subsidies reform measures have been implemented. The industry is under increasing scrutiny—including scrutiny of its sustainability certification programs—and fisheries subsidies now need to be part of the public accountability to help keep companies fishing competitively and sustainably.

Six people in business or business-casual attire pose for a group photo on a blue stage behind a large white poster with the title “Stop funding overfishing” and five paragraphs of text. They are in the courtyard of a large, white stucco building, and other people are mingling in the background.
Representatives of the Stop Funding Overfishing coalition present a statement urging WTO members to ratify the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies and to complete further negotiations on outstanding issues. From left: Angela Paolini Ellard, WTO deputy director general; Heike Vesper, chief executive, transformation politics and markets at WWF Germany; Alfredo Giron, head of the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, WTO director general; Alice Tipping, director of trade and sustainable development for the International Institute for Sustainable Development; and Liz Karan, director of ocean governance for Pew.
The Pew Charitable Trusts

Currently, a third of fish stocks are exploited beyond sustainable levels, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, yet governments have been providing fishing fleets an estimated US$22 billion every year in harmful subsidies to help them increase fishing capacity. Stakeholders around the world and across a breadth of sectors—from government, industry and civil society—are calling on WTO members to fulfil the promise of the agreement they adopted by strengthening, ratifying and implementing this deal as soon as possible.

Megan Jungwiwattanaporn works on cross-campaign efforts within The Pew Charitable Trusts’ conservation work.

Three people sit on a panel in front of a blue screen with blurry words projected on it. On the right is a Latino man in a black suit jacket with a pink tie; to his right is a Black woman wearing a colorful headdress and dress, and glasses; to her right and somewhat blurry is an Indian man in a blue blazer and striped tie.
Three people sit on a panel in front of a blue screen with blurry words projected on it. On the right is a Latino man in a black suit jacket with a pink tie; to his right is a Black woman wearing a colorful headdress and dress, and glasses; to her right and somewhat blurry is an Indian man in a blue blazer and striped tie.
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Agreement Curbing Fisheries Subsidies Awaits Ratification

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Article

This month marks the first anniversary of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) historic Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. The treaty, adopted at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference, established the first global, legally binding framework that limits subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and fishing of overfished stocks, as well as subsidies to vessels fishing on the unregulated high seas.

Harmful subsidies that governments pay to commercial fishing operators are one of the key drivers of overfishing. A long-awaited World Trade Organization agreement aims to tackle the problem and help ensure fisheries’ sustainability.
Harmful subsidies that governments pay to commercial fishing operators are one of the key drivers of overfishing. A long-awaited World Trade Organization agreement aims to tackle the problem and help ensure fisheries’ sustainability.
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Fisheries Subsidies Agreement: What's the Big Deal?

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Fact Sheet

The World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted a long-awaited fisheries subsidies agreement in June of 2022 at the close of its 12th Ministerial Conference. The agreement, a historic step towards ensuring the ocean’s sustainability, will tackle one of the key drivers of overfishing by curtailing harmful subsidies—payments made by nations to commercial fishing operators to keep those businesses profitable.