This year, new WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian economist who is both the first woman and African to hold the position, made the issue her top priority—with a conference set for July that could help seal an international accord. Isabel Jarrett, manager of the Reducing Harmful Fisheries Subsidies program at The Pew Charitable Trusts, said of the negotiations: “We are closer than ever before to an agreement.”

But bids by several nations for exemptions and loopholes could jeopardize its effectiveness at a critical moment for the planet’s oceans.

Nations intent on protecting food access and local economies have been pouring money into fishing for decades, encouraging the continued depletion of resources by enabling struggling fisheries to expand.