Fisheries Subsidies: Everyone Agrees On The Goal, The Fight Is Over Who Pays

The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (“AFS”) has been widely seen as a historic achievement, and rightfully so. It is the first WTO agreement to place environmental sustainability at the centre of its framework, targeting government subsidies that help fishing fleets catch fish faster than stocks can recover. It also reflects more than two decades of negotiations that repeatedly faltered as countries struggled to reconcile environmental and developmental priorities.