This paper sets out the legal issues behind urgent questions facing decision-makers and stakeholders prior to the European Commission’s legislative package for Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform, which is expected early next year. ClientEarth considers the need for one new basic regulation which sets out both the fundamental objectives of the reformed CFP and the basic fisheries’ management conditions that need to be included in order to guarantee sustainable EU fisheries in the future. From a legal perspective, reform must take into account the issues of competence, legislative process, proportionality, subsidiarity and the delegation of power. 

To enable the implementation of an ecosystems based approach to fisheries management, and to avoid conflict with other EU legislation such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, ClientEarth considers it essential that fisheries management is regionalised. This paper highlights the arguments for a regionalised management framework based on ecosystems regions and provides details of a number of options we have identified for ways in which regionalised fisheries management could be achieved from a legislative and administrative point of view.

The paper is open for discussion and we greatly welcome feedback from interested parties.