In 1993, the FAO blamed subsidies for most of the $54 billion shortfall between the fishing industry’s estimated revenues and costs. In 1998, the World Bank published the first major estimate of subsidies at global level, arriving at a figure of $14 to 20 billion. Other international organisations such as APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) also started to discuss the issue. The inclusion of fisheries subsidies in the WTO’s Doha Round of trade talks in 2001 thrust the issue to the forefront of the international fisheries policy agenda. At its Fourth Ministerial Conference in 2001, the WTO undertook to “clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries”. These commitments were reinforced by the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration in 2005 (WTO, 2005).