WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement Marks First Anniversary, Tackling Overfishing

·         Agreement Milestone: The WTO’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies entered into force on 15 September 2025 and will mark its first anniversary.

·         Overfishing Rising: The share of marine fish stocks classified as overfished reached 37.6% in 2023, compared with 32% in 2013 and just 10% in the mid-1970s.

·         Global Fishing Scale: About 4.7 million fishing vessels operate worldwide, generating around 80 million tonnes of marine capture fish annually.

·         Major Subsidies: Global fisheries subsidies were estimated at around $35.4 billion, with approximately $22 billion supporting fishing capacity, including about $7 billion in fuel subsidies.

·         Asia Leads Subsidies: Asia accounted for roughly $19.5 billion of global fisheries subsidies, including China ($7.5bn), Korea ($3.2bn), Japan ($2.9bn) and Thailand ($1.1bn).

·         Three Subsidy Categories Banned: The WTO Agreement prohibits subsidies supporting:

1.    Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing

2.    Fishing of overfished stocks

3.    Unregulated fishing on the high seas

·         Transparency Requirement: Members must regularly notify the WTO about fishery health, catches, fleet capacity, subsidies and vessels receiving subsidies, as well as known IUU fishing.

·         Global Coverage: WTO members include 49 of the world’s 50 largest capture-fishing countries and account for approximately 97% of global fish catches.

·         Implementation Support: The WTO’s Fisheries Funding Mechanism/Fish Fund has around $20 million available to help developing and vulnerable countries implement the agreement; 43 grants had been made.

·         Current Participation: The agreement has 123 ratifications, exceeding the 111 ratifications required for entry into force.

·         Next Phase: WTO members are negotiating additional disciplines covering subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, including within national waters.

·         2029 Deadline: Under Article 12, the agreement will terminate after four years—by September 2029—if members fail to reach agreement on the additional subsidy disciplines.

·         Overall: The agreement represents a major WTO effort to reduce harmful fisheries subsidies, improve transparency and promote sustainable fishing, while supporting developing countries in protecting their fisheries.

 

[ABS News Service/10.09.2026]

THE NUMBERS: Share of marine fish stocks “overfished” –

2023

37.60%

2013

32.00%

2003

24.50%

1975

10.00%

* FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026. 2023 is the most recent available date.

WHAT THEY MEAN:

It’s been sadly difficult to get countries to agree on good things in this century. But for those seeking sparks of hope, the World Trade Organization has one this week: The 166-member WTO’s most recent “multilateral” agreement — on fishery subsidies limits and transparency — marks its first anniversary next Tuesday. Background and implications:

Fish and Boats: The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026, a biannual report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, estimates 4.7 million active fishing vessels around the world, of which 3.7 million are motorized, and 191,000 are large vessels above 24 meters long. Together they haul in 80 million tons of “capture” fish in the oceans and another 12 million tons from freshwater lakes and rivers. That is more than many fisheries can stand — FAO’s report says 37.6% of the world’s marine fish stocks were “overfished” as of 2023, up from 32% in 2013, 24.5% in 2003, and just 10% in the mid-1970s.

What to Do? A world whose 8 billion humans needing protein, but whose forests are badly stressed and has little new arable land, has no single way to ease pressure on marine life. Options range from aquaculture — fish farming produced 102.7 million tons of fish last year, about 11 million tons more than ocean and freshwater capture fisheries – to quota restrictions in relatively healthy fisheries, marine sanctuaries, limits on catches of particular species, bycatch reduction, and bans on especially destructive technologies. All have limits but can contribute in various ways. Another partial solution — the one the WTO members have been working on — is in principle among the simplest and easiest: stop paying people to catch more fish than they should.

Money: How much money are they spending? A widely used count of world subsidies to fishing fleets, done in 2019 by a University of British Columbia group (Sumaila et al), yields a figure of $35.4 billion. If the figures haven’t grown since then, this would be about 6.5% of the world’s $545 billion in annual fish sales, and a fifth of the $180 billion in annual fish trade. About $28 billion goes to the big boats — pretty easily identified as the least deserving recipients of free money — with $22 billion spent to enhance fishing capacity, including $7 billion to give them cheap fuel. By region and top eight countries (counting the EU as a single economy), Sumaila’s subsidy rundown looks like this:

WORLD TOTAL

$35.4 billion

Asia

$19.5 billion

China

 $7.5 billion

Korea

 $3.2 billion

Japan

 $2.9 billion

Thailand

 $1.1 billion

Indonesia

 $0.9 billion

Europe

 $6.4 billion

European Union

 $3.8 billion

Russia (pre-war)

 $1.5 billion

North America 

 $4.4 billion

United States 

 $3.4 billion

Latin America  

 $2.0 billion

Africa 

 $2.1 billion

Pacific 

 $0.8 billion

The WTO Agreement: So, a large environmental problem, a set of policies that make it worse, and money that (to put it mildly) would serve the world and its fishermen better if spent to support sustainable fishing. The WTO is well-placed to do something about it, in the abstract given its mission — agreements on trade and investment, policy reform, shared commitments and mutual benefits transparency in policy, mutual benefit from open markets – and in practice since its members include 49 of the world’s top 50 capture fishery countries (all but Iran) and catch about 97% of the fish.

The WTO members, despite taking frequent criticism for arguing more than agreeing on things, concluded a 9-page “Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies” in June 2022 — the largest “multilateral,” or essentially “worldwide,” agreement done in any forum in this decade, and maybe the only one. The Agreement bans three categories of subsidies: (i) those supporting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; (ii) those supporting fishing in overfished stocks; and (iii) those supporting fleets on the unregulated high seas as opposed to national waters. It also requires the WTO members to file regular public reports — “notifications” in the jargon — on fishery health and catch levels, fishing fleet capacity and any subsidies the fleet might be getting (including identification of the specific vessels getting it), and any known “IUU” fishing. Finally, the agreement organizes a “Fish Fund” with about $20 million currently available to support small and very low-income countries as they implement the agreement.

The Agreement required ratification from two-thirds of the 166 WTO members — 111 of them — to “enter into force.” It got there on September 15th last year and now has 123 ratifiers, including all top ten fishing countries but Indonesia. As of last August, 21 WTO members had filed 33 “notifications,” and the Fish Fund has made 43 grants. One example: financing a readiness study for Pacific island state Tonga, where fisheries account for about 3% of GDP and 80% of the 107,000 Tongans engage in artisanal or professional fishing.

Next steps: The Agreement has a follow-up agenda, involving negotiations to limit subsidies contributing to “overcapacity” in national shipping fleets or to overfishing, in national waters as well as on the high seas. Right-minded WTO members are working on these in a fisheries subsidies negotiating group set to meet in two weeks. Their work entails not only improving but preserving the Agreement, whose high-stakes “Article 12” terminates the whole thing after four years (i.e., by September 2029) if the WTO members don’t agree on the additional subsidy limits.

And altogether: As much as the world of 2026 encourages pessimism and cynicism, this anniversary is sort of the opposite. Good news for the world environment; a success story for the too-often-undervalued WTO; and a reminder that governments, if they try, can cooperate for the common good.