On September 16, 2025, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that its landmark Fisheries Subsidies Agreement officially came into effect. This is the first multilateral trade agreement since the establishment of the WTO with environmental sustainability as its core goal, and it is widely regarded as an important measure in the global governance system to address overfishing, illegal fishing, and the depletion of Marine resources. According to the latest report, the entry into force of this agreement immediately drew widespread attention from the international community.
According to a statement released by the WTO at its headquarters in Geneva, the agreement officially entered the implementation stage today after obtaining the ratification of a sufficient number of members. Since the text was reached at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022, the agreement has gone through a process of gradual ratification by member states. With the number of ratifications exceeding the required threshold, the agreement has finally reached a historic moment of full entry into force.
Core content of the agreement
The Fisheries Subsidy Agreement mainly imposes restrictions on three types of subsidies:
Firstly, subsidies for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities are prohibited to combat cross-border illegal fishing practices.
Secondly, subsidies for fish resources that have been scientifically identified as overexploited are prohibited to prevent further deterioration of Marine ecosystems.
Third, it is prohibited to support unregulated fishing on the high seas to ensure that fishery resources in international waters are no longer damaged due to the “no Man’s land” effect.
In addition, the agreement has established transparency and notification mechanisms, requiring member states to report their fishery subsidy policies to the WTO regularly and subject them to multilateral supervision. This mechanism aims to enhance policy transparency and prevent countries from secretly intensifying competition for fishery resources through subsidies.
Historical background and difficult negotiations
The issue of global fishery subsidies has a long history. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), approximately 34% of the world’s fishery resources have been overexploited, with the majority of the pressure coming from overfishing driven by subsidies. For a long time, some major coastal countries and major fishery subsidy countries have been reserved to cut subsidies for fear of affecting their own fishery employment, which has made the negotiation process long and complicated.
As early as the Doha Round negotiations in 2001, the reform of fishery subsidies was placed on the agenda. However, due to serious differences among the members, the progress has been slow. It was not until 2022, with the international community’s high attention to sustainable development issues and the strengthening of consensus among countries on Marine protection, that the ministerial conference finally finalized the text of the “Fisheries Subsidy Agreement”.
Multiple responses
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at a press conference: “This is a victory for the global trading system and a historic moment for Marine protection.” By restricting harmful subsidies, we have sent a clear signal to future generations: the international community has the responsibility to safeguard the sustainable development of the ocean.
The EU was the first to express its welcome, emphasizing that the agreement is highly consistent with its “Green Deal” initiative and will help promote international cooperation in Marine governance. China, India, and other major fishing countries also played a key role in the approval process. The Ministry of Commerce of China pointed out in a statement that the agreement reflects the concerns of developing members and provides institutional guarantees for balancing environmental protection and development rights.
Meanwhile, some non-governmental organizations and environmental groups expressed their approval of the entry into force of the agreement, but also cautioned that its content still had deficiencies. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) pointed out that although the agreement prohibited some harmful subsidies, it still did not fully cover policies such as fuel subsidies that “indirectly promote overfishing”. Further negotiations and supplementary agreements are needed in the future.
Challenges and prospects
Although the agreement has officially come into effect, the implementation process is facing challenges. All countries need to establish effective domestic implementation mechanisms to ensure that the adjustment of subsidy policies can truly be implemented at the levels of fishery enterprises and fishermen. In addition, developing countries are concerned that cutting subsidies may affect fishermen’s livelihoods. How to strike a balance between ecological protection and ensuring development will be the key to the implementation of the agreement.
The WTO stated that it will continue to promote the second phase of negotiations in the future, covering more types of subsidy issues, especially sensitive areas related to capacity expansion and fuel subsidies. International observers generally believe that the entry into force of this agreement marks that the WTO, after years of reform difficulties, has once again demonstrated its ability to promote multilateral cooperation and address global issues.
Global significance
As the world’s first multilateral fishery subsidy agreement, its significance is not limited to the fishery itself, but also has broader symbolic value. On the one hand, it shows that in a highly divided international landscape, countries can still reach consensus on environmental and sustainable development issues. On the other hand, it builds a bridge between the global trading system and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing a new practical model.
Against the backdrop of increasingly severe climate change, resource depletion, and Marine ecological crises, the official entry into force of the Fisheries Subsidy Agreement is regarded as a crucial step for the international community towards green trade and sustainable development. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put it, “Protecting the ocean is not only an environmental issue, but also a shared responsibility concerning the future survival of humanity.”
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