EU Budget 2028–2034: a non-starter without a reinforced specific fund for fisheries  

Europêche expressed deep disappointment at the European Commission’s proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which foresees a 67% cut in ring-fenced funding for fisheries, reducing the allocation to just €2 billion.

‘This proposal is inconsistent with the EU’s stated priorities on competitiveness, resilience and food security,’ said Javier Garat, President of Europêche. ‘The Common Fisheries Policy is one of the few fully European policies. To strip it of a fully-fledge fund is not just inconsistent – it ultimately dismantles the very policy itself.”

The sector raised concerns about the merger of fisheries financing into wider macro-funds, exposing operators to competition with larger industries. Maximum aid intensity rates will also be completely left on the hands of Member States, which is bound to create distortions and unfair competition within the common market. Europêche appreciated the constructive talks held with the Commissioner and Member States aimed at finding ways to ensure that funding for fisheries is safeguarded at no less than the present level.

This support is vital for fishers to continue investing in new technologies, ensuring safer and better working conditions, attracting new talent to the profession, leading the transition to a low-carbon future and staying competitive in global markets.

Fishing opportunities for 2026: progress recognised, but zero-TAC advice threatens communities

While welcoming the Commission’s latest communication acknowledging the good management of EU stocks, Europêche voiced serious concerns over zero-catch proposals and poor data categories.

• Baltic Sea: Europêche recalled that the current regime shifts stems from environmental pressures (pollution, predation by seals and cormorants, oxygen depletion), not fishing. Therefore, further reductions in bycatch quotas appear to be more symbolic than effective and would force many fishing companies to shut down. Europêche thus urged to maintain bycatch quotas for cod and herring and to adopt effective management measures for seals and cormorants.
• Mediterranean: The sector highlighted the significant progress made through reduced fishing effort (>40%) and strict management measures. Europêche called on EU policy-makers to grant additional fishing days as a reward for these sacrifices and to remove Mediterranean red shrimp from the quota system.
• North-East Atlantic: Europêche, echoed EU Advisory Councils recommendations stressing that ICES advice continues to be overly precautionary, with many stock assessments still based on limited data and precautionary assumptions that unfairly penalise the sector. In addition, zero-TAC proposals for cod, haddock, and whiting would have devastating consequences for coastal communities. Europêche urged EU policy-makers to move away from zero-catch approaches, maintain bycatch quotas, and factor in socio-economic impacts when setting quotas for key species to soften the severity of proposed cuts. 

Europêche raises the alarm on EU–UK–Norway and international fisheries talks

Europêche reaffirmed its commitment to cooperation with the UK and welcomed the 12-year extension of reciprocal fishing access until 2038. However, the organisation warned that new restrictions risk turning this agreement into empty words. In particular, recently adopted marine protected areas (MPAs) in Scottish waters and Stage 3 MPA proposals will force many vessels out of UK waters. Europêche considers many of these closures unjustified, disproportionate and discriminatory since European vessels will suffer nearly five times greater economic losses compared to UK vessels operating in the same areas. On top of this, the closure of the sandeel fishery—still in place despite a favourable arbitration ruling—is damaging the fleet. Europêche urged both sides to find political solutions and adopt mitigation measures to safeguard EU fishing communities.

On the wider stage, Europêche voiced strong concerns over the poor state of key pelagic stocks such as mackerel, herring, and blue whiting— following years of overfishing by other Coastal States, such as Norway, Russia and Faeroe Islands. The organisation called on the Commission to take a tougher line: secure fair and sustainable sharing arrangements through high-level diplomacy and by applying market pressure and targeted trade measures against unsustainable practices. In the meantime, Europêche insists that EU and national authorities must clearly explain that proposed catch limits (TACs) are based on scientific advice and therefore sustainable. Consumers, retailers, and the market at large must continue to trust, sell and eat EU-caught mackerel since it remains a sustainable choice. 

Fisheries Control Regulation: improvements welcome, but weighing rules unacceptable

The sector acknowledged progress on the implementation of the Control Regulation following Commission engagement and adjustments to address stakeholder concerns. However, Europêche warned that proposed weighing rules remains unacceptable and regrets that adopted derogations on margin of tolerance remain unapplicable in practice. Europêche appreciated constructive dialogue with Commissioner Kadis and his cabinet to develop workable solutions at technical level.

Competitiveness Compass: call for an omnibus proposal

Europêche welcomed the Commission’s push to simplify EU rules—but warned the big EU strategies and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) revision is moving far too slowly, with no real impact expected before 2030. The sector called for an urgent omnibus proposal to cut red tape and simplify fisheries rules, highlighting that the farming sector has already enjoyed fast-tracked reforms. All sides agreed to continue working on concrete proposals.

Free Trade Agreements: open markets cannot mean unfair competition

In her State of the Union address, President von der Leyen highlighted that fishers are facing ‘high input costs, red tape and unfair competition’. Inspiring words — yet, in practice, new FTAs with Indonesia and Thailand will allow low-standard duty-free tuna imports. Europêche called for its exclusion or impose strict origin rules.

Under the new EU-US deal, the EU faces a 15% tariff on its seafood exports to the USA, while thousands of tonnes of American seafood, enter the EU market tariff-free. This imbalance has hit European companies hard and created zero business opportunities for EU seafood exports. The sector urged to seek tariff derogations for EU seafood products in the next round of negotiations.

Press Contact:

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche | Email: daniel.voces@europeche.org │ Phone: +32 489 26 81 07

EP Press Release – Meeting Kadis MS

The Omnibus Simplification Package aims to streamline existing EU sustainability regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). By consolidating these frameworks, the proposal seeks to eliminate redundancies, lower compliance costs, and provide much-needed clarity, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This is part of the new Commission’s Competitiveness Compass, which aims to reduce the administrative burden on firms by at least 25% and on SMEs by at least 35%. The sector emphasizes that simplification should go beyond reporting obligations. Additional regulatory challenges—such as compliance costs, fishing ground closures, taxation and bureaucratic inefficiencies—continue to threaten the fishing sector’s economic viability. Since 2000, the EU fishing fleet has decreased by 28%, and full-time employment in the sector has dropped by 33%. Europêche urges a practical revision that balances environmental sustainability with food security, economic viability and reduced red tape. The Commission must also conduct a thorough review of all policies affecting fisheries, including the news ones such as the Control Regulation and the Nature Restoration Law, similar to the review of the Common Agricultural Policy adopted in 2023.

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche, stated: ‘We welcome this initiative as a first step, but the Commission must go deeper. A broader analysis of sectoral and environmental policies is essential to identify and eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens. Reducing red tape, where necessary, will improve competitiveness and ensure a more practical and sustainable regulatory framework for the European fishing industry.’

Europêche welcomes the ongoing screening exercise by DG MARE to identify and reduce red tape. However, the sector calls on the Commission to establish a structured consultation with fisheries stakeholders to pinpoint specific regulatory challenges and propose practical solutions. A comprehensive strategy is essential to ensure that fisheries legislation is proportionate, coherent, and effective, enabling the sector to thrive while supporting the EU’s sustainability objectives.

For more details, read Europêche’s position paper on reducing regulatory burdens in the EU fishing sector.

Press Contact: 

Anne-France Mattlet, Deputy Director of Europêche | Email: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org | Phone: +33 678 11 63 01 

EP Press Release – Reduction Bureaucracy

As the EU aspires to strengthen food sovereignty, Europêche underscores that fisheries is a critical pillar of Europe’s food production system. EU fisheries contributes to healthy diets, economic stability in coastal communities and reduced dependence on imported proteins. In this context, Europêche calls for the meaningful inclusion of fisheries in the Vision for Agriculture and Food and the announced legislative proposals therein to ensure a truly comprehensive strategy for a stable, resilient and self-sufficient food supply.

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche, stated: ‘Fishers and farmers face the same challenges—securing food supply in an increasingly competitive and highly regulated environment. While we welcome the Commission’s commitment to fair incomes, reduced bureaucracy and generational renewal for farmers, it is crucial to recognize that fisheries are just as essential to Europe’s food security. Our fishers face similar struggles with rising operational costs, complex regulations and the urgent need to attract young generations into the profession. They deserve the same level of support and recognition as part of the food production chain.’

Europêche calls on the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food to expand its Vision to fully integrate fisheries. Simplification packages for farmers and food businesses should also extend to fisheries, ensuring a level playing field globally and reducing bureaucratic burdens. This effort must go beyond the Common Fisheries Policy review to encompass all relevant environmental and fisheries policies, such as the Nature Restoration Law and Control Regulation. Additionally, fisheries should be fully included in the Generational Renewal Strategy set for 2025, with dedicated financial incentives, innovation, and training—just as proposed for farmers—to attract and support the next generation of fishers.

Call for an EU Action Plan for Blue Foods

Beyond inclusion in the Commission’s Vision, Europêche is calling for the development of an EU Action Plan for Blue Foods by 2026 to boost the supply and consumption of sustainable seafood. This plan should:

✅ Promote nutritious, healthy, low-carbon blue foods through sustainable fisheries and ocean-friendly innovations.
✅ Be backed by dedicated EU funding to enhance seafood production and market access.
✅ Ensure the integration of blue foods into key EU ocean and food strategies, making it a central pillar of both the EU Oceans’ Pact and the Vision for the Future of Agriculture and Food.
✅ Support public awareness campaigns on the health, environmental, and socio-economic benefits of increasing seafood consumption.

Europêche also calls on Commissioner Hansen to include Europêche as a member of the ‘High-Level Group on Agriculture and Food’, noting that no fishing organization has been accepted to join this expert group. Mr Voces concluded: ‘The future of food in Europe depends on a holistic approach that integrates both land-based and marine food production. Fishers deserve the same recognition and support as farmers in shaping a sustainable and competitive food sector for future generations.’

Press Contact: 

Anne-France Mattlet, Deputy Director of Europêche | Email: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org  | Phone: +33 678 11 63 01 

EP Press Release – Vision for Agriculture and Food

Crucial decisions have been taken last night to make decisive progress towards a new EU control system. Policy makers overcame the remaining hurdles such as the installation of cameras on board or the permitted margin of error between the catch estimates made on board and the actual landings (margin of tolerance). Some of the main measures can be summarised as follows:

Mandatory installation of cameras on board for vessels of >18 metres which pose a high risk of non-compliance with the landing obligation. Member states may impose the use of CCTV systems for other purposes and to smaller vessels.

• Mandatory introduction of engine power monitoring devices for certain vessels using active gears.
• Margin of tolerance of 10% per species, with certain flexibilities for catches below 100kg and for the small-pelagic and tropical tuna fisheries due to their specificities.
• Geolocation systems and electronic logbooks will be made mandatory for small-scale fishing vessels gradually, after transitory periods. 
• Harmonisation of infringements and establishment of minimum sanctions, levelling the playing field in EU waters.
• Better import controls and increased consumer protection, via modern traceability tools such the EU-wide digital database of catch certificates (CATCH).
• Better monitoring of recreational fisheries through registration, licensing and data collection of their catches electronically.

Daniel Voces, managing director of Europêche, declared: “We appreciate the efforts made by the Parliament and the Council to reach compromises and introduce flexibilities for the implementation of the future control rules. However, the introduction of cameras and other control devices have been harshly criticised by the sector as being intrusive. A positive development was that live streaming was avoided. It is now time to check whether the political agreement sets the foundations for a clear and efficient system that guarantees a level playing field, workable rules, acceptable control devices and overall makes life easier for fishers”.

Anne-France Mattlet, Europêche Tuna Director, commented: “The control rule on margin of tolerance is currently incompatible with the conditions and specificities inherent to the fishing operations in the tropical tuna purse seine fishery. We hope that the new framework makes the margin of tolerance operational, stops unfairly penalising only EU operators and that the subsequent implementing legislation is quickly adopted and proportionate”.

As next steps, the resulting political agreement has to be officially endorsed by the Council and the Parliament in second reading in the next few months. As for the entry into force of the new rules, for some of them such as the CCTV or the engine power monitoring devices, they will become mandatory in 4 years’ time.

EP Press Release – Political Agreement Fisheries Control System

Following last year’s adoption of a global catch limit for bigeye tuna, IOTC, driven by EU and Japan, adopted individual catch limits as well as catch reductions for the biggest harvesters. Anne-France Mattlet, director of Europêche Tuna Group, fully endorses this decision: “Adopting catch limits for bigeye is paramount to ensure the fishery’s sustainability. We only hope that small-scale operators, who have been given the possibility to harvest up to 2 000 tons annually in the next two years, will also play the game and not go beyond without asking to redistribute the TAC, as it was the case for yellowfin tuna”.

The European multi-specie proposal on tropical tuna, however, was rejected and no compromise could be found on yellowfin tuna, that would have brought objectors to the measure onboard. Mattlet stated: “We regret the total unwillingness of several States to adopt catch limits for yellowfin and skipjack at levels that allow their sustainable exploitation. The European Union’s multi-species proposal made it possible to achieve this while ensuring more favorable conditions for developing coastal states but was met with strong opposition earlier this week. How is it possible that most parties, including developing coastal states which would come out on top, have not even considered it?”.

Regarding Fishing Aggregated Devices (FADs), a working group was created at the initiative of Korea, to study the impacts and possible new management measures based on science.

An important step was also taken for data accuracy: the IOTC adopted guidelines for electronic monitoring systems (EMS). Fleets will now be allowed to complete human on-board observers with EMS, including for small-scale vessels. Xavier Leduc, president of Europêche Tuna Group, concluded: “At last, EMS guidelines are adopted, so all fleets will be able to increase their observer coverage. Right now, only the European purse seine fleet apply voluntarily 100% observer coverage. Other fleets, including industrial Asian longliners, barely reach the 5% compulsory coverage.”.

However, there is still a long way to go to increase viability and quality of the data. The Seychellean proposals to improve catch reporting and statistics, including on FADs, has been rejected by developing coastal states and Japan. The latter also pushed back the Maldivian proposal on sharks, which would have definitely banned shark finning in this important ocean. Europêche notes with great disappointment this new objection to a measure aiming at protecting sharks and remind that shark fining has been forbidden in EU since 2013. The European proposal on a mechanism for boarding and inspection was also rejected by China.

Press contacts:

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche: +32 2 230 48 48 daniel.voces@europeche.org

Anne-France Mattlet, Europêche Tuna Group Director: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org

EP Press Release – ETG IOTC 27th