A Global Deal to Tackle Harmful Fisheries Subsidies: A look behind the scenes

In June 2022, the WTO's 164 members reached a historic agreement to tackle harmful fisheries subsidies, marking the first multilateral trade deal centered on environmental sustainability. The process involved over 20 years of negotiations and was supported by a combination of impartial technical policy advice from the IISD and high-ambition advocacy from The Pew Charitable Trusts. To create external pressure, the 'Stop Funding Overfishing' campaign was launched, eventually gathering 182 signatories, including the World Wildlife Fund and Oceana. The final agreement, adopted at the Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12), includes prohibitions on subsidies for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, fishing of overfished stocks, and fishing on the unregulated high seas. To ensure future progress, the deal includes a clause stating the agreement expires if a more comprehensive deal is not reached within four years of entry into force.

• The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, concluded on June 17, 2022, is the first multilateral trade deal to place environmental sustainability at its core.
• The agreement establishes a legally binding framework that prohibits subsidies for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the fishing of overfished stocks, and vessels fishing on the unregulated high seas.
• To reach a final consensus at MC12, members agreed to a trade-off where the prohibition on overfishing subsidies was removed for now, but the entire agreement will expire if a more comprehensive deal is not achieved within four years of its entry into force.
• The 'Stop Funding Overfishing' campaign, supported by IISD and Pew, built a coalition of 182 signatories, including major organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, Oceana, and the Friends of Ocean Action, to provide external pressure on WTO members.
• The IISD fisheries team supported the negotiations between 2019 and 2022 through over 100 activities, including 14 reports and 67 events, focusing on providing impartial technical advice to WTO members.
• Singapore was the second WTO member to ratify the agreement and the first coastal state to do so.

APA

Resich,, P. (2022). A Global Deal to Tackle Harmful Fisheries Subsidies: A look behind the scenes. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/success-story/fisheries-subsidies-deal-behind-scenes

Chicago

Resich,, Paulina. A Global Deal to Tackle Harmful Fisheries Subsidies: A look behind the scenes. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/articles/success-story/fisheries-subsidies-deal-behind-scenes.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Resich, |first1=Paulina |title=A Global Deal to Tackle Harmful Fisheries Subsidies: A look behind the scenes |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=6 December 2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/success-story/fisheries-subsidies-deal-behind-scenes |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{resich2022global, author = {Resich,, Paulina}, title = {{A Global Deal to Tackle Harmful Fisheries Subsidies: A look behind the scenes}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/success-story/fisheries-subsidies-deal-behind-scenes}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }