London, (September 15, 2025) – Today, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies enters into force to tackle harmful fishing practices. The agreement seeks to address poorly designed government subsidies to the fishing sector that can have harmful consequences such as overfishing and unfair advantages. Known as “Fish 1”, the agreement prohibits subsidies linked to the fishing of overfished stocks (unless measures are in place to rebuild them), illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and unregulated high seas fishing.  

To become legally enforceable, the agreement required ratification by two-thirds of WTO members (111 countries), a milestone which has been reached after almost two decades of negotiations.

Following is a statement from Tom Pickerell, Global Director of World Resources Institute’s Ocean Program:

“In a year of tough geopolitics, this is a landmark achievement that shows countries are still committed to coming together to restore the ocean’s health. Coastal communities worldwide will benefit.

“This agreement marks a critical step toward curbing the government incentives that drive the overexploitation of fish stocks. These harmful subsidies make it profitable to continue fishing even when stocks are declining and have been linked to unsustainable and, in some cases, extreme practices such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. These practices undermine marine biodiversity, threaten food security, and jeopardize the livelihoods of coastal communities worldwide.

“While this is a positive step forward, it is staggering that taxpayer money has been used to fuel overfishing, effectively paying to destroy the very ocean resources communities depend upon. It should not have taken over 20 years of negotiation to agree to stop subsidising the destruction of fish stocks.

The next step in the WTO agreement (known as “Fish 2”) is now under negotiation and will aim to go further in addressing capacity-enhancing subsidies that contribute to overfishing, making the agreement more effective and enforceable. However, Fish 2 must not take another two decades. Neither the declining marine environment nor the communities who depend on it can afford to wait.”