Fishing opportunities for 2025: progress in the Mediterranean amid uncertainty
Press Release Date: December 11, 2024
Location: Brussels
Contact:
Emily Fairless, Communications Officer | email: efairless@oceana.org | tel.: +32 478 038 490
Brussels – Today, EU fisheries ministers have set fishing opportunities for stocks managed exclusively by the EU for 2025, in the Northeast Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea. Oceana values the progress made in the western Mediterranean, where France, Spain and Italy have taken decisions to reduce fishing pressure, including adopting remedial measures to recover severely overexploited populations, like European hake. Without trivialising the socio-economic repercussions for the fishing sector, these measures are a step in the right direction for future ecosystem health in that sea basin.
Specifically, following the ambitious proposal by the European Commission, the fisheries ministers concerned agreed to continue to reduce trawling days by 66% in Spanish and French waters (Gulf of Lion), and by 38% in Italian and French waters (Corsica). Ministers also agreed to lower catch limits for blue and red shrimp in Spanish and French waters by 10%, blue and red shrimp in Italian and French waters by 6%, as well as for giant red shrimp populations by 6% in Italian and French waters. Moreover, they adopted for the first time catch limits for hake caught by gillnets and trammel nets, in the form of remedial measures. However, ministers agreed to retain a compensation mechanism under a new system designed to offset reductions in fishing effort. This system introduces 12 optional and cumulative measures, focused on improving selectivity, and expanding closure areas. Vessels or countries at national level can implement these measures, with each measure granting trawlers a specific number of additional fishing days. If a fleet adopts most of them, it could effectively regain almost the same number of fishing days as in 2024, raising concerns about the agreement’s meaningful reductions in fishing pressure.
Giulia Guadagnoli, senior policy advisor at Oceana in Europe, said: “The adoption of remedial measures, and the lower catch limits in the Western Mediterranean are positive developments agreed by France, Italy, and Spain at today’s fisheries Council. However, the uncertainties surrounding the new compensation mechanism granting extra fishing days to trawlers cast doubt on the agreement’s ability to ensure the sustainable exploitation of all fish populations. We now expect swift and effective implementation to deliver a tangible recovery of stocks — an essential move to safeguard our oceans, protect biodiversity, and secure the long-term livelihoods of coastal communities.”
Background:
60% of demersal fish populations in the western Mediterranean are subject to overfishing, and 80% of them have a biomass that is below sustainable levels. Countries have a legal deadline to end overfishing of demersal populations, as laid out in the western Mediterranean multiannual plan, by 1 January 2025.
Learn more:
Factsheet: Rebuilding western Mediterranean fisheries: status and policy recommendations for 2025
Recommendations to the EU on the setting of fishing opportunities for 2025
