The WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement: Advancing Sustainable Trade and Ocean Governance

This paper considers the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies as an important step in the crossing of sustainable trade and ocean governance. The analysis is made of the legal, economic, and environmental impacts of the agreement in terms of its provision in reducing destructive subsidies causing overfishing and depletion of marine life. Utilizing doctrinal analysis of the terms of the agreement and review of applicable WTO principles found in international environmental law, this paper answers the question of whether the agreement is an opportunity to harmonize trade regulation with wider sustainability goals, including SDG 14. The study also imagines the logistical difficulties of implementation and enforcement, especially for developing and least developed countries, with admitting the capacity shortcomings and compliance problems inherent to this obligation. From the analysis, this study finds that despite the agreement’s unprecedented change towards trade governance through its binding provisions on the environment, the actualized outcome will lie in domestic implementation multiplicity, ventured negotiations of the remaining categories of subsidies, and cooperative mechanisms for the provision of technical assistance. The study concludes that the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is also a first step to address the conflicting policies of trade liberalization and marine conservation and resource distribution.