The World Trade Organization (WTO) achieved a significant milestone in June 2022 by adopting a much-anticipated fisheries subsidies agreement, aligning with strong recommendation from the global scientific community. This pivotal agreement marks a crucial advance towards ensuring the sustainability of our ocean. For the first time, it establishes binding global regulations compelling governments to assess the legality and sustainability of the fishing activities they subsidize. Harmful subsidies are a key driver of overfishing which is a major threat to ocean biodiversity. Subsidies also exacerbate CO2 emissions from fishing sectors by incentivizing over-capacity and putting coastal livelihoods and food security at risk. Within this agreement, trade ministers committed to further negotiations on unresolved provisions needed to complete an ambitious agreement.
