The European Union and Mediterranean countries have made a fresh committment to cooperation to rebuild Mediterranean fish stocks, agreeing to adopt a new MedFish4Ever Declaration in 2027.
Theis new declaration will set an ambitious course for the next decade of action on Mediterranean fisheries and aquaculture, building on the cooperation framework established in 2017. The commitment was taken at a Ministerial Conference held in Nicosia, co-organised by the European Commission and the Republic of Cyprus.
Since the original declaration was signed in 2017 by sixteen Mediterranean nations and the European Commission, half of Mediterranean fish stocks have started to recover. Where science-based management has been applied, results are tangible – in the Adriatic, demersal stocks such as hake have reached Maximum Sustainable Yield for the first time. Fisheries restricted areas are seen as delivering positive spillover effects and selective fishing gear is reducing bycatch.
Alongside the positives, mor than half of assessed stocks remain overfished, while illegal fishing and fleet overcapacity continue to undermine the sector, climate change is accelerating pressures, and small-scale fishing communities face economic hardships – not least as young people turn away from fishing as a profession.
Participants see five priority avenues to underpin the next declaration, identifying a need for stronger governance, science-led recovery, fair transition with targeted support for small-scale fishers, generational renewal and gender equality, moves to cope with changing climatic conditions by adapting fisheries and aquaculture management and turning challenges such as non-indigenous species into opportunities, and collective action anchored in a modernised General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).
