One Year After Historic Fishing Deal, Governments Must Build on Success

One year after a historic multilateral deal went into effect and began to stop governments from funding overfishing, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are now turning to implementation of the agreement – but more work needs to be done.

The WTO’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which entered into force on 15 September 2025, was a massive step towards tackling the payments that drive overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which push fish populations – and the communities that depend on them – closer to collapse. Both of these unsustainable practices are often profitable only because of government subsidies that offset operational costs from fuel, gear, and vessel construction, and also increase fleets’ capacity. In other words, these payments allow industrial vessels to fish farther out to sea and for longer periods of time – driving overcapacity, which refers to vessels catching more fish from a stock than it can replenish through reproduction.

More than one-third of fish stocks worldwide are exploited beyond sustainable levels, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. An estimated $22 billion a year in government subsidies is helping drive this damaging use of the ocean.

The WTO agreement, originally adopted in June 2022, was designed to curtail these harmful fishing subsides. Specifically, the deal lays out clear mandates for WTO members to halt payments that enable IUU fishing, fishing of overfished stocks or fishing of unmanaged stocks on the high seas.

Where are we now?

Since the agreement took effect last year, governments have been hard at work implementing this critical deal. The agreement established a Committee on Fisheries Subsidies, which held its first meeting in December 2025, where members welcomed the body’s new leading chair, Costa Rica’s Minister-Counselor Ana Laura Lizano. The committee met again in May 2026 to begin hammering out operational details that will guide future meetings. This body is charged with tracking progress towards implementing the deal, which includes reviewing reports from members that illuminate where and how fisheries subsidies are being spent, as stipulated by the agreement’s notification and transparency requirements.

To further support its implementation, the agreement also created the WTO Fish Fund to help provide developing and least-developed countries with the technical assistance they need for strengthening fisheries management, coordinating among relevant national agencies and assessing their domestic compliance with the agreement’s rules and prohibitions. Since opening in November 2022, the fund has received nearly $20 million in donations from WTO member countries; more than 40 nations have already received targeted financial support from this mechanism.

New rules can go even further

Although this progress is worth celebrating, the work doesn’t stop here.

The current agreement’s focus on addressing subsidies that enable the most unsustainable practices – such as IUU fishing – still falls short of delivering on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, which urges the WTO to end subsidies that are destructive to the marine ecosystem.

Recognizing this, trade ministers have been negotiating new rules to prevent further damage by stopping governments from providing financial incentives that help perpetuate overcapacity – when vessels are overequipped with boats, fuel or personnel – that is driving the overfishing contributing to much of the ocean’s biodiversity decline.

Earlier this year, world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to tackle these outstanding issues at the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with the aim to recommend related provisions by the next conference in 2028. Under the leadership of the new chair facilitating these negotiations, Guyana’s Ambassador Leslie Ramsammy, WTO members will meet for a series of weeks later this autumn where they will build upon a draft text that outlines the basis for the trade-offs necessary to complete their mandate.

An anniversary wish

As we celebrate one year of the agreement entering into force, WTO members are not off the hook. An end to harmful fisheries subsidies, a healthier ocean and a more sustainable future is within sight. Members must fulfill their obligations to phase out the harmful subsidies prohibited in the original historic deal, and they must continue to work in earnest to complete the new rules over the next two years.

Megan Jungwiwattanaporn provides expertise and coordination to advance The Pew Charitable Trusts’ engagement in the World Trade Organization, among other multilateral forums, and Grace Evans supports Pew’s advocacy efforts to reduce harmful fisheries subsidies across the globe.