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This joint NGO response to the Commission’s consultation on the setting of fishing opportunities for 2025 was co-signed by 30 environmental NGOs (ClientEarth, Seas At Risk, …). In this response, we jointly call on the Commission to propose fishing opportunities for 2026 in line with the requirements and objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and with achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This is necessary in order to restore and maintain fish populations above biomass levels capable of producing the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), while maximizing and safeguarding ecosystem health, resilience and productivity in the face of mounting pressures like climate change.
While most of the issues covered by this document have been previously raised, we more strongly emphasise the need to set truly precautionary and ecosystem-based fishing opportunities rather than as a default fully exploiting the available scientific single-stock advice. We make the following recommendations, which are elaborated on further in our joint Briefing Series, in order to ensure that all fishing opportunities, proposed and set for 2026, including Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and effort restrictions, meet the objectives of the CFP and deliver on GES:
Finally end overfishing and implement a new approach to TAC-setting that explicitly prioritises rebuilding fish populations, maximises ecosystem health and resilience, and applies the necessary precaution in the face of uncertainty in the ecosystem context (also see our Cover Briefing and Briefing 5);
Recognise shortcomings in the scientific single-stock advice on fishing opportunities and the EU’s and UK’s requests, and develop a clear roadmap with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and other ICES clients for how these shortcomings will be swiftly addressed (also see Briefing 3 and this letter to Commissioner Kadis on the topic);
Take urgent and effective action to recover depleted fish populations and prioritise rebuilding when setting TACs, regardless of whether catches are taken primarily as “bycatch” or targeted, and whether they refer to data-limited or fully assessed fish populations (also see Briefing 9);
Fully implement the Western Mediterranean multiannual plan to ensure the swift recovery of all fish populations in the Western Mediterranean (also see Briefing 7);
Fully implement the CFP and underpin sustainable, precautionary and ecosystem-based fishing opportunities by proper implementation of the landing obligation, full catch accounting and a new approach to quota and fishing effort allocation that favors low impact fishing (also see Briefings 2 and 8).
Since both the CFP’s legal MSY deadline for ending overfishing, and the MSFD’s deadline to achieve GES by 2020 have passed, the fishing opportunities agreed this year for 2026 must respect this deadline, and be clearly geared towards meeting the broader objective of maintaining and restoring all stocks above levels capable of producing MSY.
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