WTO / US Accepts Fisheries Accord

Damian Gadal

Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2023 1:33 pm

The United States formally accepted the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, Tuesday, becoming the fourth WTO member and the first among large fishing nations to do so.

The formal acceptance by the US marks a significant moment for the approaching entry into force of the landmark agreement for ocean sustainability.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala received the instrument of acceptance from US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai in Washington, D.C. The Agreement requires acceptances from two-thirds of WTO members to come into effect.

Okonjo-Iweala expressed gratitude for the US's support and its commitment to ocean sustainability, acknowledging the importance of US leadership to the WTO and multilateralism. Ambassador Tai emphasized the US's role in protecting the environment, oceans, marine resources, and the livelihoods dependent on them.

The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, adopted by consensus at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2022, establishes new binding, multilateral rules to curb harmful subsidies that contribute to the depletion of global fish stocks. The Agreement also considers the needs of developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) and creates a fund to provide technical assistance and capacity building to help them implement the obligations.

The Agreement prohibits support for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, bans support for fishing overfished stocks, and ends subsidies for fishing on the unregulated high seas. Additionally, Members agreed at MC12 to continue negotiations on outstanding issues, aiming to make recommendations by MC13 for additional provisions that would further enhance the Agreement's disciplines.

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