EU scheme granting extra fishing days in Western Mediterranean must be simplified to support fish stock recovery
Press Release Date: September 14, 2026
Location: Brussels
Contact:
Vicky Baniokou | email: vbaniokou@oceana.org | tel.: +34 636065977
Brussels – A new study by Oceana recommends simplifying the ‘compensation mechanism’ under the Western Mediterranean Multi-Annual Plan (MAP) and removing measures that do not help achieve its goal of protecting juvenile and spawning fish. The mechanism grants trawlers additional fishing days for adopting more selective gear and other conservation measures intended to reduce fishing mortality. Oceana’s assessment comes ahead of negotiations on fishing opportunities for 2027, which are particularly significant after the Food and Agriculture Organization confirmed that the Mediterranean is the world’s most overfished sea.
The assessment found that the number of additional fishing days granted for applying these measures is not transparently calculated. The rules do not show how the amount of additional fishing days attached to each measure correspond to its expected conservation benefit. Monitoring and reporting are also insufficient and lack transparency. Information provided by Member States is fragmented across different publications, inconsistent, and fails to systematically evaluate biological results.
Javier Lopez, campaign director for sustainable fisheries at Oceana in Europe, said: “The compensation mechanism can play an important role in helping fishers transition to more sustainable practices, but only if the conservation benefits at least offset the impact on fish stocks caused by the additional fishing days. The mechanism must be science-based, transparent, and able to prove its results if it is to support population recovery and the long-term future of Mediterranean fisheries”.
Oceana analysed all measures adopted under the compensation mechanism between 2022 and 2026, drawing on scientific literature and EU legislation. Over this period, the mechanism evolved from a simple system with just four eligible measures to a much more complex framework with fourteen measures. The results reveal that selective fishing gears, such as the use of larger mesh sizes, are the most scientifically-backed measures and show the clearest link to reducing catches of juveniles and spawners. Well-designed closures can also significantly contribute to the mechanism’s aim, but their effectiveness depends on duration, location, timing, and whether or not they result in fishing effort being displaced elsewhere. Longer, targeted closures are generally more likely to deliver lasting benefits than closures lasting only a few weeks.
However, the contribution of other measures to reducing fishing mortality remains uncertain or has not been demonstrated. These include the use of flying trawl doors, increases in minimum conservation reference sizes without accompanying gear selectivity measures, poorly designed closures, and vessel scrapping schemes. They may serve other environmental or socio-economic objectives, but those benefits do not, in themselves, justify additional fishing days.
The compensation mechanism was introduced by the Council in 2022, to grant fishing vessels additional fishing days in exchange for implementing conservation measures, such as fishing closures and the use of more selective fishing gear to protect juveniles and spawners in the Western Mediterranean. This would in turn contribute to the MAP’s objectives of ending overfishing and rebuilding depleted Mediterranean fish stocks.
For the compensation mechanism to be an effective tool, Oceana recommends that it:
- Prioritise the most effective measures: keep and promote larger mesh sizes, as well as well-designed, targeted and longer closures that have been scientifically proven to protect juveniles and spawners and reduce fishing mortality.
- Remove measures that do not fulfil the intended conservation purposes: flying trawl doors, increases in minimum conservation reference sizes without accompanying gear selectivity measures, poorly designed closures (including the one in waters deeper than 800m), and vessel scrapping. Such measures, pursuing other objectives, should be included in the relevant policy or funding instruments instead.
- Use scientific evidence to decide the eligibility of measures: grant additional days only where the benefits are additional (i.e. where the measures do not overlap with existing rules or reward the same benefit more than once), can be proven, and are at least sufficient to offset the expected fishing mortality resulting from those additional days.
- Improve monitoring and reporting: ensure country reports on the implementation of the compensation mechanism are harmonized, scientifically-backed, and easily accessible.
Next steps:
According to the Western Mediterranean Multiannual Plan, the fishing effort in the region should have been reduced to sustainable levels by 2025 at the latest. This deadline has not been met, and several demersal species in the Western Mediterranean continue to be overexploited, which prevents their recovery and socio-economic benefits resulting therefrom. In September, the European Commission will publish its proposal for the 2027 fishing opportunities. Oceana calls on the Commission and EU Member States to ensure that decisions on fishing opportunities and related measures for 2027 and subsequent years finally result in an end to overfishing.
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