Supporting the Implementation of New WTO Rules on Fisheries Subsidies

This policy brief by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the role of technical assistance and capacity building (TACB) in implementing a potential World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on fisheries subsidies. It identifies critical gaps between the needs of developing countries for compliance—such as subsidy inventory and IUU monitoring—and the actual distribution of official development assistance (ODA), which heavily favors general fisheries development and management over specific subsidy reform.

• Implementing a future WTO instrument on fisheries subsidies would require members to undertake several compliance steps, including creating inventories of existing subsidies to ensure they align with new prohibitions, establishing mechanisms to withdraw subsidies when triggered by IUU fishing or overfished stock determinations, and reforming domestic laws to prevent granting subsidies to IUU operators.
• Beyond legal compliance, the effectiveness of a WTO agreement depends on broader capacity building in areas such as re-purposing harmful subsidies toward sustainable management, improving the detection of IUU activities, and strengthening overall fisheries management regimes to maintain stocks at sustainable levels.
• Official development assistance (ODA) for the fisheries sector is relatively small, representing only 0.3% of total sector-allocable ODA between 2009 and 2018, with total gross disbursements exceeding USD 3.3 billion.
• There is a significant mismatch between the supply of ODA and the needs for WTO compliance; specifically, there is no clear evidence of donor support for domestic subsidy assessment or reform, and support for IUU monitoring (2%) and fish stock assessments (1%) remains marginal.
• A large portion of fisheries ODA is directed toward 'fisheries development,' which may inadvertently increase fishing capacity and effort through the funding of infrastructure, boats, and engines, potentially contradicting the WTO's goal of reducing overcapacity.
• The brief recommends that countries requiring assistance conduct country-specific needs assessments, potentially following the model of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, to map gaps in capacity and coordinate with specialized agencies like the FAO and World Bank.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2020). Supporting the Implementation of New WTO Rules on Fisheries Subsidies. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/wto-fisheries-subsidies-technical-assistance.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Supporting the Implementation of New WTO Rules on Fisheries Subsidies. 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/wto-fisheries-subsidies-technical-assistance.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Supporting the Implementation of New WTO Rules on Fisheries Subsidies |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/wto-fisheries-subsidies-technical-assistance.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2020supporting, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Supporting the Implementation of New WTO Rules on Fisheries Subsidies}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/wto-fisheries-subsidies-technical-assistance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }