The World Trade Organization has announced that the WTO Fish Fund opened its second Call for Proposals on 2 February, inviting developing and least-developed country (LDC) WTO members that have ratified the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies to apply for project grants to support implementation of the Agreement.
The Call offers two types of grants. These are project preparation grants of up to USD 50,000 to carry out needs assessments ahead of implementation, and project grants of up to USD 300,000 for projects that implement specific provisions of the Agreement.
Following the first Call for Proposals, the Fish Fund Steering Committee approved 26 requests for project grants at its November 2025 meeting, with the approved projects valued at a total of USD 2.9 million.
The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies was adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in 2022 and entered into force on 15 September 2025. This development brought the Fish Fund’s grant and disbursement mandate into full effect. It added that a brochure explaining the objectives and benefits of the Agreement is available to members.
So far, 116 WTO members have formally accepted the Agreement, according to figures released by the WTO, with the organization publishing a full list of members that have completed acceptance.
The Fish Fund was established under Article 7 of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which ministers also adopted at MC12 in 2022. The Fund is housed at the WTO and operates in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank.
The Fish Fund currently has deposits, commitments and pledges totalling over USD 18 million from contributing members, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
The fact sheet titled “How to Access Funding – Opening the Call for Proposals” is available.
Eligible WTO members can submit proposals by 24 April via the application portal, which can be found here https://www.wtofishfund.org/.
