European fishing marathon ends with positive agreement

BRUSSELS – Portugal has secured a positive agreement for fishing opportunities in 2026, after a two-day marathon of negotiations, having in particular reduced the cuts for sole and resolved those for red seabream.
“After two days of a marathon, we have a positive agreement,” said the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, José Manuel Fernandes, stressing that “the fishing opportunities are higher than the catches” that Portugal had, which “means there is predictability and stability.”
With regard to red seabream, a species of great commercial importance for the Azores, Portugal secured a 12% increase in the national quota for 2027, which will be partially carried over to 2026, which has a 3% cut, using the interannual flexibility mechanism.
As for sole, the European Commission had proposed a 28% reduction, which ended up being set at 9%.
Solutions were also found for monkfish, said, for his part, the Secretary of State for Fisheries, Salvador Malheiro, with the 1% cut (Brussels had proposed 2%) being offset by quota swaps with Spain.
Black scabbardfish is another species that was negotiated, with France, to compensate for the 55% reduction, which affects the Sesimbra area.
In exchange, Portugal gives up hake and megrim catches to Madrid and Paris.
“We have a very big problem here with black scabbardfish, but we already have that guarantee from France which allows us to have another 150 tonnes, but more important than that is the commitment between the two countries that throughout the year this reinforcement can happen several times,” said Salvador Malheiro.
For cod, a total of 3,506 tonnes is guaranteed, 800 tonnes more, in Newfoundland, Canada, with the results of the European Commission’s negotiations with Norway still pending. On the other hand, the planned 55% reductions for black scabbardfish will not affect Madeira, which will maintain for 2026 this year’s quota. For the autonomous regions as well, catches of bluefin tuna, a species widely consumed in sushi and commercially relevant in the autonomous regions and the Algarve, will increase by 17% in 2026 to 747 tonnes, after a negotiating marathon in Brussels.
The remaining species managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) – swordfish, bigeye tuna, albacore, blue shark, among others – have their total allowable catches unchanged compared to 2025. The European Union fisheries ministers reached an agreement at dawn today on the total allowable catches and the respective national quotas, after two days of debates and a marathon from Friday night to today. (13/12/25)