Excerpt from tongaindependent.com
The global fight against overfishing reached a milestone this week as the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) landmark Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies officially came into force.
The deal, first adopted in 2022, became binding on Monday after Kenya, Brazil, Tonga, and Vietnam formally ratified it, bringing the total approvals to 112—just over the two-thirds threshold needed from the WTO’s 166 members.
This marks the WTO’s first-ever environmental agreement, obliging governments to cut subsidies that encourage illegal fishing and the exploitation of waters already classified as overfished.