Cover letter to the EU interim-Commissioner regarding the joint NGO recommendations to the EU and the UK on fishing opportunities for 2025

This cover letter, co-signed by 26 environmental NGOs active in the EU and/or the UK, was sent to the Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, acting as interim-Commissioner, accompanying our joint NGO recommendations to the EU on fishing opportunities for 2025. In parallel, a similar letter was sent to the new UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In these twin letters, we urge both the EU and the UK to end overfishing of shared stocks and invest in stock and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change and other mounting pressures, by setting precautionary, ecosystem-based fishing opportunities well below the best available scientific single-stock advice.

The letter to the interim-Commissioner emphasises some of the key points discussed in more detail in the joint NGO TAC (Total Allowable Catch) recommendations documents for the EU and the UK, respectively, namely the following:

• Set catch limits well below the best available scientific single-stock advice for maximum catches;
• Fully implement the western Mediterranean multiannual plan;
• Apply a precautionary and ecosystem-based approach when setting fishing opportunities, with special attention to mixed fisheries and interspecies dynamics;
• Eliminate bycatch and discards, increase selectivity, incentivize low impact fishing through quota allocation based on environmental and social criteria, and diligently control fisheries;
• Increase transparency of decision-making.

Related links:

Find other files produced or co-signed by ClientEarth related to the annual negotiations on fishing opportunities from 2015 onwards here.