Revisiting Global Fisheries Subsidies: Equity, Biodiversity, and the Urgency of Transparent Reform

Marine fisheries subsidies remain one of the most controversial—and inequitable—drivers of global marine fisheries outcomes. Building on the 2018 global estimates by Sumaila et al. (2019), this update provides a timely and policy-relevant analysis of the scale, composition, and distribution of fisheries subsidies worldwide. Our analysis draws on newly compiled data from over 35 of the world’s top subsidizing countries, collectively responsible for over 85% of total global fisheries subsidy provision. These new figures directly support the evidence base for ongoing ‘Fish 2’ World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and the implementation of ‘Fish 1’, the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies that came into force on September 15, 2025. More than a technical update, this analysis embeds an equity lens. Our analysis explicitly considers disparities between high- and low-Human Development Index (HDI) countries. To address gaps in country-level reporting, we use a benefit-transfer modelling approach that estimates missing subsidy values based on medians drawn from countries with similar economic and regional profiles. The model disaggregates by subsidy type, HDI grouping, and total fisheries revenue, allowing us to scale subsidy estimates proportionally to the size and structure of each country’s fishing sector. Fisheries subsidies are categorized as beneficial (e.g., support for fisheries management, conservation, or research), capacity-enhancing (e.g., fuel subsidies, vessel construction grants), which often increase fishing effort and risk overexploitation, and ambiguous (e.g., fisher assistance programs), whose impacts depend on implementation context. This typology allows for a more nuanced understanding of how different subsidy types incentivize overcapacity and overfishing, disproportionately undermining the viability of fisheries and threatening marine biodiversity. Our findings suggest that addressing harmful subsidies is not just a matter of ecological necessity but of economic and social justice. Effective reform must recognize who benefits and who bears the costs. By combining robust quantitative analysis with a call for transparent reporting mechanisms, this work contributes to a more inclusive and accountable global subsidy landscape that aligns with global biodiversity goals.