The European Commission has presented updates to its 2026 fishing opportunities proposal for the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The proposal aims for a balance, recognising fishermen’s conservation efforts while ensuring sustainability of vital fish stocks.
The proposal seeks to balance essential conservation measures with social and economic considerations. The goal is to continue the recovery of fish stocks under the Western Mediterranean multiannual management plan, while maintaining fishing days at 2024 levels.
Encouraging scientific data from the Western Mediterranean indicates positive trends, such as recovering stock biomass and decreasing fishing mortality, showing the beneficial effects of the management plan.
To address continues over-exploitation of some stocks, the Commission proposes reductions in fishing effort to reach sustainable mortality levels and remedial measures for fish stocks under safe biological limits. In this context, the Commission advocates for reductions for vulnerable stocks, particularly for langoustine (Norway lobster) populations in Catalonia and Sardinia.
The Commission proposes to scale back initial reductions for fishers who are not targeting langoustine. Additionally, the Commission proposes to continue building on the 2025 compensation scheme for the 2026 fishing opportunities. This will allow fishers to implement additional conservation measures and recover fishing days, supporting fish stock recovery and reinforcing the effectiveness of the management plan.
The proposal also includes fishing opportunities aligned with the latest decisions from the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean.
These measures are crucial for implementing regionally agreed management plans in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, covering catch and effort limits for key species like small pelagic and demersal species in the Adriatic Sea, blackspot seabream in the Alboran Sea, turbot in the Black Sea, and deep-water shrimps in the Strait of Sicily, the Ionian, and Levant Seas.
