The fishing industry grapples with challenges such as declining marinefish production due to industrial fishing, subsidies leading to overfishing, and illegal fishing. The WTO’s 2022 Agreement aims to tackle these issues but must not inadvertently impact small-scale fisheries in India and other developing nations. Smallscale fishing, crucial for poverty alleviation, faces declining catches. Overfishing from subsidies, especially by major international actors such as China, the European Union, and the United States, severely impacts marine resources, leading to collapsed fisheries and unemployment hitting India’s small-scale fishers and coastal communities especially hard. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, estimated at 26 million metric tons per year, cripples livelihoods and compromises national security. IUU fishing remains a pressing issue and will require global cooperation and technical assistance for developing countries to protect marine resources and livelihoods.