India on Monday formally accepted the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, becoming the 123rd member to ratify the global pact that aims to curb subsidies related to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, fishing of overfished stocks, and certain fishing activities on the unregulated high seas.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal deposited India’s Instrument of Acceptance with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to mark New Delhi’s entry into the agreement.
The agreement, adopted at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva in June 2022, is the first multilateral WTO accord with an environmental sustainability objective. It came into force in September 2025 after two-thirds of WTO members accepted it.
“India’s decision reaffirms the country’s commitment to sustainable fisheries management while preserving marine resources as a source of food security, livelihoods and employment for coastal communities,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the agreement is expected to benefit India by creating a more level playing field through disciplines on subsidies provided to large industrial fishing fleets operated by distant-water fishing nations. As India’s fisheries sector is dominated by traditional and small-scale fishers rather than industrial fishing operations, the pact aligns with the country’s long-standing interests in sustainable marine resource management.
The agreement mainly focuses on subsidies related to marine wild-capture fishing and fishing-related activities at sea. Meanwhile, aquaculture and inland fisheries remain outside the scope of the agreement. This positions India to implement the pact effectively while preserving policy space for traditional and small-scale fishers.
The government also said India’s acceptance of the agreement would strengthen the country’s credentials as a responsible seafood exporter and support access to premium overseas markets that increasingly place a premium on sustainability and traceability. It added that the competitiveness of India’s seafood exports would remain intact because the country’s shrimp exports are predominantly aquaculture-based.
India’s acceptance of the agreement follows years of negotiations during which New Delhi pressed for stronger safeguards for developing countries and traditional fishing communities. Throughout the talks, India argued that the major drivers of overcapacity and depletion of marine resources were heavily subsidised industrial fishing fleets, particularly those operated by distant-water fishing nations, rather than small-scale fishers in developing economies.
However, negotiations on a second phase of fisheries subsidy disciplines, covering subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing, remain unresolved after WTO members failed to reach consensus at the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in March 2026. India has maintained that any future agreement should impose stronger obligations on countries operating large industrial fleets while preserving the ability of developing countries to support livelihoods, food security and coastal communities. It has consistently sought stronger special and differential treatment, including longer transition periods and safeguards for traditional and small-scale fishers.
Source: Business Standard
