The European Union’s new fisheries control system came into force this week. This aims to digitise every aspect of seafood’s journey from the deck of a fishing vessel to a consumer’s plate – a key element of which is the clear intention to expand VMS location reporting to all fishing vessels, regardless of how small.
Also part of the package are mandatory catch recording, as well as phasing in mandatory reporting for some recreational fisheries.
‘The revised fisheries control system is the culmination of five years of negotiations,’ said Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius.
‘With it, we are significantly updating the way fishing activities are monitored, to ensure that our precious marine resources are better protected, and fisheries control rules are better enforced through the whole chain, from the net to the plate.’
The revised EU fisheries control regulation updates most of the rules for controlling fishing vessels, bringing them in line with technological developments and make EU fishing more sustainable. Major changes relate to improved monitoring of fishing activities and traceability of catches by making use of technology and sanctioning those breaching the rules.
The control system rules also aims to strengthen compliance with the landings obligation and include requirements for remote electronic monitoring (with onboard cameras) for fishing vessels above 18 metres which also present a high risk of non-compliance with this obligation. The new rules include harmonised sanctions for breaching CFP rules, particularly in the case of serious infringements.
By making digital traceability mandatory throughout the supply chain, the suite of regulation is claimed to enable the authorities to tackle illegal activity. The system applies to fresh and frozen fish, both from wild catches and aquaculture, and applies to all fishery products, including imports.
The regulation making it compulsory to use the CATCH reporting platform for seafood imports to the EU is now in force, although this is subject to transitional provisions to provide time for the EU’s fishing authorities and other relevant stakeholders to adapt to the new requirements. Consequently, most provisions of the amended regulation will apply from 10th January 2026.
CATCH is intended to streamline catch certification processes for fishery products entering the EU market, offering a fully digitalised and paperless workflow. It facilitates the exchange of data, information and documents between all involved trading parties and control authorities and therefore simplifies and speeds up the administrative procedures.
The thinking behind CATCH is that this will make it easier to identify and prohibit importation into the EU of fishery products originating from IUU fisheries, improving the effectiveness of the EU IUU Regulation’s catch certification scheme.
