Unsustainable EU and UK fishing limits fail to bring struggling fish stocks back from the brink 

11.12.25

ClientEarth has reacted to the international negotiations between the EU, UK and other coastal states on next year’s fishing limits – which have now largely concluded.  While ClientEarth is yet to review the negotiation outcomes in detail, it is already clear that fishing limits for several depleted or struggling stocks have again been set above scientific advice. 

Jenni Grossmann, ClientEarth Science and Policy Advisor said: 
"North Sea cod, Celtic Sea haddock and now even mackerel. All of these iconic species are on the brink of collapse or heading towards it. The alarm bells in our ocean are ringing louder than ever. The explicit commitment in the EU/UK deal to develop rebuilding plans for depleted stocks is a long-overdue step in the right direction - but action must now follow words! 
Fisheries collapse must be the exception rather than the rule in years to come. Stock recovery, precaution and ecosystem health are already at the heart of EU and UK fisheries law, but fisheries decisions still routinely disregard them. Whilst decision-makers claim to act in the interest of the fishing industry, their short-term thinking to date benefits nobody in the long term. 

 

To turn things around and secure a future for fish, fishers and coastal communities, we need to finally and fully implement the rules, rather than waste time rewriting them."

 

Meanwhile, the annual December Council meeting of EU fisheries ministers will take place in Brussels both today and tomorrow (11/12th December) to agree fishing limits for EU-only stocks in the Northeast Atlantic.  

A group of environmental NGOs, recreational fishers and the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) yesterday wrote to Commissioner Kadis ahead of this year's December Council fisheries meeting. They are calling for fisheries decisions - and the scientific advice that underpins them - to be geared towards recovering fish populations, apply sufficient precaution and safeguard wider ecosystem health.  

ENDS

Notes to editors:
  • Both the trilateral negotiations between the EU, the UK and Norway – covering Northern Shelf cod and other stocks in and around the North Sea – and the EU/UK bilateral negotiations have already concluded. Coastal States discussions around mackerel appear to still be ongoing. Fishing limits for EU-only stocks in the Northeast Atlantic will be set at this week’s annual December Council meeting on 11 and 12 December.
  • Read our joint briefing and yesterday’s joint letter to Commissioner Kadis ahead of this year's December Council meeting, and the upcoming renewal of two key agreements between the European Commission and the main provider of scientific advice on fishing opportunities, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). 
  • All this comes at a time when discussions are ongoing about a revision of the EU's key fisheries legal framework, the Common Fisheries Policy. Environmental NGOs are clearly outlining that there is no need – nor time – for reopening the CFP. Instead, they are calling for its full implementation, including on stock recovery, precaution and ecosystem-based fisheries management. Similarly, the often-neglected objective to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in Europe's seas - applicable both in the EU and the UK - must be properly integrated into the setting of fishing limits. 
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ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. ClientEarth teams in Europe, Asia and the USA work to shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.