The WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement is Now Operational

The global deal to curb harmful subsidies has entered into force, marking a new era for ocean sustainability and global trade cooperation.

The Stop Funding Overfishing Coalition

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies entered into force on 15 September 2025, once the final three countries out of the required 111 deposited their instruments of acceptance. The Agreement aims to reduce the most harmful subsidies that support 1) illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, 2) fishing of already depleted or overfished stocks, or 3) fishing of unmanaged stocks on the high seas. It is the first-ever WTO deal with an environmental objective at its core and notably contributes to United Nations (U.N.) Sustainable Development Goal 14.6, for which countries committed to eliminating harmful subsidies that incentivize overfishing.

Our ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. It’s home to an astonishing diversity of life and supports the livelihoods of one in 10 people worldwide. However, its health is facing a decline. To put things into perspective: 10 percent of fish populations were fished at unsustainable levels in the mid-1970s, yet that number has nearly quadrupled in today’s world. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, about 38% of the world’s fish stocks are now exploited beyond sustainable levels. An estimated $22 billion in subsidies each year contribute to the depletion of these stocks, undermining the livelihoods of coastal communities and jeopardizing food security for millions of people worldwide.

The agreement, which is the culmination of more than two decades of negotiation, is a landmark instrument in addressing the health of our ocean. The deal establishes, for the first time, a set of binding global rules that will require governments to consider the legality and sustainability of the fishing activities they subsidize. In addition to its main prohibitions against providing harmful subsidies, the agreement lays out notification and transparency requirements enabling more effective tracking of where fisheries subsidies are being given. The Agreement also creates a “fish fund,” which provides the technical assistance that developing nations (and least-developed nations) need to not only increase fisheries sustainability but also improve the long-term profitability of their fishing sectors.

While its entry into force is a giant step forward in conserving our ocean, there is more to tackle to protect marine biodiversity and sustain coastal communities for generations to come. The success of this deal depends on robust implementation, transparency, and continued international collaboration. And, as part of the deal, member states committed to negotiating new rules on outstanding issues that address some of the most harmful effects of fisheries subsidies, strengthening the 2022 agreement. Negotiations are currently ongoing to address subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, which make unprofitable—and unsustainable—fishing profitable, and that enable fishing in other countries’ waters. WTO member states need to finalize these additional rules as soon as possible to maximize the deal’s benefits to ocean health and biodiversity and to reaffirm the WTO’s role as a forum for negotiation, cooperation, and multilateralism.

The Stop Funding Overfishing Coalition was instrumental in shaping the 2022 agreement and advancing its progress toward entry into force, and we will continue to keep up the momentum on securing the additional rules to ensure that efforts to improve ocean health—and sustain the communities across the globe who depend on it—aren’t thrown overboard.