The WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement: What was agreed and what happens next?

After more than two decades of negotiations, on June 17, 2022, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded an agreement to tackle the harmful fisheries subsidies that encourage unsustainable fishing in the world’s ocean. The deal, which was completed in overtime at the WTO’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference, establishes new binding multilateral rules on fisheries subsidies. It represents both the first set of global disciplines on governments’ financial support to their fishing sector and the first WTO agreement with an environmental objective at its core.

But what exactly was agreed and what was left out? This webinar shed light on the key rules and subsidy prohibitions that this new treaty establishes and discuss their significance from an ocean conservation perspective. It also explored how agreed rules could be improved through—already planned—future negotiations and explain what the implementation of these new disciplines will require countries to do in practice.

Agenda

15:00–15:05: Opening remarks

• Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade, IISD

15:05–15:45: Expert perspectives

• Tristan Irschlinger, Policy Advisor, Fisheries Subsidies, IISD
• Isabel Jarrett, Manager, Ending Harmful Fisheries Subsidies, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Rashid Sumaila, University Killam Professor, University of British Columbia
• John Pearce, Principal Consultant, MRAG

15:45–16:00: Questions and answers