Report | November 25, 2020

NGO briefing on COVID-19 Crisis Response: Increased Interannual Quota Flexibility Is Risky And Unnecessary

Some Member States are considering increasing annual quota flexibility from current 10% to 25% as a COVID-19 crisis response. In this short paper, we explain why this approach is risky from legal, environmental and economic point of view and call on the Member States and the European Commission to oppose any such attempts.

Alternative measures to “build back better” (some of which have already been pursued) are explored in more detail in the NGO paper “Setting the right safety net: A framework for fisheries support policies in response to COVID-19”, where we also highlight important principles of any crisis response, and risks of some options that have been proposed by the fishing industry.