India’s WTO fisheries agreement sparks concern among traditional fishermen
India deposited its instrument of acceptance for the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS), becoming the 123rd WTO member to formally join the agreement.
Fishing organisations have expressed concern that the agreement's provisions could disproportionately affect developing countries and traditional, small-scale fishing communities.
The agreement prohibits subsidies linked to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, fishing of already-overfished stocks, and unregulated fishing on the high seas.
India's aquaculture-based and inland fisheries, including shrimp farming, remain outside the scope of the agreement, as it covers only marine capture fisheries subsidies.
WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (2022) — First Environment-Focused Multilateral WTO Deal
The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies was adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva on 17 June 2022, making it the first multilateral WTO agreement with an explicit environmental sustainability objective, responding to SDG Target 14.6 on eliminating harmful fisheries subsidies. It entered into force on 15 September 2025, after two-thirds of WTO members deposited instruments of acceptance, as required under the WTO Marrakesh Agreement's amendment procedure.
Key Details
- The Agreement prohibits three categories of subsidies: those supporting IUU fishing, those for fishing of overfished stocks (unless rebuilding measures are in place), and those for unregulated fishing on the high seas.
- It entered into force upon reaching the two-thirds acceptance threshold of the WTO's 166 members (around 111 members), achieved on 15 September 2025.
- India became the 123rd member to accept the Agreement, depositing its instrument of acceptance with the WTO Director-General on 20 July 2026.
- A second, broader set of disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing (OCOF) remains under separate negotiation and has not yet been concluded.
India's acceptance formally binds it to the prohibitions on IUU and overfished-stock subsidies for its marine capture sector, while the unresolved OCOF negotiations are where India's demands for special treatment for small-scale fishers remain contested.
Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) for Developing Countries
S&DT is a long-standing WTO principle allowing developing and least-developed countries longer transition periods, lower reduction commitments, or technical assistance compared with developed members, recognising asymmetric capacities to implement trade rules. In the fisheries negotiations, India has pushed for extended, tailored S&DT provisions rather than uniform disciplines applied equally to industrial and artisanal fishing.
Key Details
- India sought a 25-year transition period for developing countries not covered by the de minimis exemption or LDC status, compared with the 5-7 years proposed by developed members.
- India also demanded a permanent carve-out for subsidies to small-scale and artisanal fishers to protect livelihood and food security concerns, and sought subsidy flexibility for fishing within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ, up to 200 nautical miles) rather than a narrower 12-nautical-mile "territorial waters" exception favoured by some developed members.
- India represents an estimated 9 million small-scale and traditional fishers, a scale that shapes its negotiating position as distinct from major distant-water fishing nations.
Fishing organisations' concerns stem from the fact that the current AFS text's S&DT provisions do not fully match India's original 25-year/EEZ-based demands, raising fears that future disciplines (especially the pending OCOF rules) could constrain subsidy support for traditional fishers even as large industrial fleets from distant-water fishing nations retain greater capacity.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Maritime Jurisdiction under UNCLOS
The EEZ is a maritime zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a country's baseline, within which the coastal state has sovereign rights over living and non-living resources, as defined under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982. This is distinct from the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, over which a state has full sovereignty.
Key Details
- India ratified UNCLOS in 1995; its EEZ extends over roughly 2.02 million sq km.
- The distinction between the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea and the 200-nautical-mile EEZ is central to the fisheries subsidies debate, since India sought subsidy exemptions across the full EEZ (where most small-scale fishing occurs) rather than only within the narrower territorial sea.
- Distant-water fishing nations operate large subsidised fleets that fish well beyond any coastal state's EEZ, in unregulated high seas areas — one of the three categories of subsidy the AFS prohibits.
Understanding the EEZ-versus-territorial-sea distinction clarifies why traditional fishermen's groups are concerned: most Indian artisanal fishing occurs within the EEZ, and any future rules that fail to fully exempt EEZ-based subsidies (as opposed to just the 12-nautical-mile zone) could subject small-scale fishers to the same disciplines meant for large industrial and distant-water fleets.
- WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted: 17 June 2022 (MC12, Geneva); entered into force: 15 September 2025.
- India deposited its instrument of acceptance: 20 July 2026, becoming the 123rd WTO member to join.
- Three prohibited subsidy categories: IUU fishing, fishing of overfished stocks, unregulated high seas fishing.
- India's negotiating demand: 25-year transition period for developing countries (vs. 5-7 years proposed by developed members).
- India's small-scale/traditional fisher population: estimated at approximately 9 million.
- EEZ extent under UNCLOS: up to 200 nautical miles from baseline; India's EEZ area: approximately 2.02 million sq km.
- Aquaculture and inland fisheries (including shrimp exports) remain outside the Agreement's scope.
- A second tranche of disciplines on overcapacity and overfishing (OCOF) subsidies remains under negotiation, unresolved as of the current agreement.