Eliminating government support to unsustainable fishing: practical recommendations for targeted subsidies reform

 

Governments typically support fisheries to manage fish resources, protect fisher livelihoods, and guarantee food security. But subsidies that make it easier and cheaper to fish can drive overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Eliminating or reforming these subsidies is key to achieve Target 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for eliminating, phasing out, and reforming subsidies harmful to biodiversity by 2030. Eliminating harmful fisheries subsidies is also a long-standing objective of on-going negotiations at the WTO, and a key target of SDG 14, which aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.

Negotiations at the WTO have recently led to the entry into force of a first Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which prohibits subsidies to IUU fishing, to the fishing of overexploited stocks, and to fishing on the high seas outside the competence of regional fisheries management organizations. The focus should now be on how to operationalize these disciplines. In April 2025, the OECD adopted a new legal instrument to tackle illegal fishing through subsidies reform. With the OECD Recommendation on Eliminating Government Support to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, OECD Members and other adherent countries committed to implement a series of measures to ensure no public money unintentionally ends up in the hands of unscrupulous actors. The Recommendation therefore provides unique guidance for governments seeking to implement some of the key disciplines of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.

Further, it is essential to understand, more generally, where and why fisheries support can pose risks to fish resources and ecosystems and to mitigate those risks through better policy design and targeting. To this end, the OECD Review of Fisheries 2025 monitors government support to fisheries across 41 fishing nations accounting for 70% of global landings; it also assesses the risks of unsustainable fishing posed by support policies and provides concrete recommendations for reform.