Geneva, Switzerland · 15 September 2025
The World Trade Organization's Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies officially entered into force on 15 September 2025, becoming the first multilateral, legally binding WTO agreement with environmental sustainability at its core. The milestone was reached when Brazil, Kenya, Tonga, and Vietnam deposited their instruments of acceptance, pushing the total number of ratifications to 111 — the two-thirds threshold of the WTO's 166 members required for the agreement to become legally binding.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcomed the achievement at a special General Council meeting in Geneva, noting that the agreement represents the culmination of more than 20 years of negotiations and the organisation's first binding multilateral agreement focused on environmental issues.
What the Agreement Prohibits
The agreement commits ratifying countries to three core prohibitions:
1. IUU Fishing Subsidies: Governments are prohibited from providing subsidies to vessels and operators engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This directly targets the financial incentives that have enabled pirate fishing operations to undermine sustainable fisheries management.
2. Overfished Stock Subsidies: Governments are prohibited from subsidising the fishing of overfished stocks, unless the subsidising government is also implementing measures to rebuild the stock to a biologically sustainable level. This provision links trade policy directly to fisheries science and stock assessment.
3. High Seas Subsidies: Governments are prohibited from providing subsidies that enable fishing on the unregulated high seas — the international waters beyond national jurisdiction where governance gaps have allowed overfishing to proliferate.
The Fish Fund: Supporting Developing Nations
Recognising that implementation capacity varies dramatically across members, the agreement established a "fish fund" to provide financial assistance to developing nations and least-developed countries. The fund supports the administrative, technical, and legal capacity-building needed to comply with the agreement's requirements, including fisheries data collection, monitoring systems, and legal frameworks for subsidy reform.
The fish fund addresses a critical equity concern: that binding environmental agreements can disproportionately burden developing nations that lack the institutional infrastructure to monitor and enforce compliance. Without such support, the agreement risked creating a two-tier system where wealthy nations could comply while poorer nations faced penalties.
The Road to Ratification
The agreement was adopted in June 2022 at the close of the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference. The path from adoption to entry into force took over three years, requiring sustained diplomatic engagement to secure the 111 ratifications.
As of June 2025, 101 WTO members had submitted their instruments of acceptance, leaving the agreement 10 ratifications short of the threshold. Throughout the summer of 2025, diplomatic efforts intensified, supported by the momentum of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice (June 9–13) and the 5th UN Ocean Forum, where member states called for urgent ratification.
The final push came in September 2025, when Brazil, Kenya, Tonga, and Vietnam deposited their instruments, crossing the threshold. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat was among the first to welcome the entry into force, noting the particular significance for Pacific nations whose economies and food security depend on sustainable fisheries.
Unfinished Business: Overcapacity and Overfishing Subsidies
The 2022 agreement covers three categories of harmful subsidies, but it does not address all of them. Negotiations are ongoing to finalise additional rules covering subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity — a fleet's ability to harvest more fish than is sustainable — and subsidies that support fishing in other countries' waters.
These remaining rules must be concluded within four years of the agreement's entry into force (by September 2029). If members fail to finalise them, the agreement will expire unless the WTO General Council decides to keep it in place. This sunset clause creates both urgency and a structural incentive for continued negotiation.
"The entry into force of the WTO's 2022 Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is a significant step forward for the ocean and the coastal communities that depend on it. WTO members must now maintain this momentum by ensuring the effective implementation of the agreement and finalizing the additional rules under negotiation — which will meaningfully improve ocean health and put depleted fish stocks on a path to recovery, sustaining livelihoods for generations to come." — Megan Jungwiwattanaporn, Officer, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Global Context: The Scale of Harmful Subsidies
The agreement addresses a problem of enormous scale. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, global fisheries subsidies total an estimated $35 billion annually, with $22 billion classified as capacity-enhancing — meaning they directly contribute to overfishing. These subsidies have been identified as one of the primary drivers of the decline in global fish stocks, with the FAO estimating that over a third of the world's fish stocks are fished beyond biologically sustainable levels.
By removing the financial incentives that drive overcapacity and illegal fishing, the agreement aims to create a market environment where sustainable fishing becomes the economically rational choice rather than an exception supported by government handouts.
Sources
- The Pew Charitable Trusts, Pew Praises Entry Into Force of WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, 15 September 2025 —
- IISD, Milestone Reached as WTO Global Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies Enters Force —
- UNCTAD, New global trade deal protects fish stocks and coastal jobs —
- Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Fisheries Subsidies Agreement Enters Into Force —
- Financial Nigeria, WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies enters into force —
FIRAT Editorial Board
Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
The collective editorial and research translation board of FIRAT, synthesising peer-reviewed evidence, policy briefs, and division milestones across our seven foundational research pillars.
