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Brussels – The European Commission’s proposals on fishing opportunities in the Mediterranean for 2026 entail for fishers “some of the most severe cuts ever imposed” and “put thousands of jobs at stake,” warned on Tuesday the European employers’ association Europêche, the ETF trade unions and the Committee of Agricultural Organizations and Community Cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca).
In a joint statement, the European social partners in the fisheries sector express their “deep concern and firm opposition” to the proposal from Brussels, which “risks dismantling an entire sector that is already at its limit” and also threatens “family livelihoods and the socioeconomic fabric of coastal communities throughout the region.”
The proposal, which according to the social partners does not comply with the latest scientific opinions, envisages in particular up to 65% fewer fishing days for trawlers in France and Spain and 64% in Italy, as well as a limit of 9.6 days per vessel per year, if compensatory measures are not applied.
In addition, it requires “new and strict restrictions on hake longliners,” as well as limits on deepwater shrimp catches and additional restrictive fishing schedules in key areas.
The cuts, they regret, “come despite the considerable sacrifices made by fishers to restore stocks” and the fact that the efforts have been recognized in official reports, with “significant improvements and an increase in fish stocks in several populations.”
“Instead of consolidating this progress through balanced, predictable and socially fair measures, the Commission is proposing a package that the sector considers, overall, economically unsustainable,” they say.
In addition, they state that even with the compensation plan proposed by the Commission to recover fishing days through additional conservation measures, the impact on regions such as Catalonia, the Western Mediterranean and the Strait of Sicily “would be severe and disproportionate”.
The sector has urged the Commission and the Fisheries Ministers, who will negotiate on 11 and 12 December the fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, to adopt a “balanced, realistic and socially sustainable” approach. (9 December)