On Wednesday 13 November, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), Europêche and the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives (Cogeca) adopted a resolution highlighting the critical state of the Mediterranean fisheries and calling for a freeze on the number of fishing days to avoid excessive restrictions in 2025.
Coastal fishing communities are suffering from sizeable reductions in fishing effort (fishing days allowed at sea) and the sector’s social partners stress that “sensible” European policies are needed to support the environmental, social and economic dimensions of fishing activities (see EUROPE 13483/10).
The social partners are calling for fishing efforts to be frozen at 2024 levels until the full impact of current policies is assessed in 2027. Other requests: - a shift towards a comprehensive strategy that aligns environmental, economic and social factors to “ensure a sustainable future” for the Mediterranean fisheries sector; - support for affected communities (compensation, training programmes, economic support); - extended environmental timelines: (“realistic” timeframes for achieving Maximum Sustainable Yield, or MSY).
To see the resolution adopted: https://aeur.eu/f/e9s (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)