February 27, 2024 — An updated draft text of an agreement to end harmful fishing subsidies has been presented for ministerial approval at the WTO’s Thirteenth Ministerial Conference (MC13), which opened Monday, 26 February in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
WTO negotiators are seeking to build on a 2022 agreement that forbade the subsidization of illegal fishing by expanding the ban to subsidies that contribute to overfishing and fishing sector overcapacity at large. On 26 February, a further eight countries submitted their acceptance of the treaty, bringing the total to 70, with 110 needed for it to enter into force.