30/01/2026 (Agence Europe) – Environmental organisations including ClientEarth, MedReact and Oceana are calling on the European Commission to oppose the regulation published on Friday 30 January, which extends the fishing effort (days at sea) of European trawlers operating in the western Mediterranean to 2026. In their view, this regulation, the result of a political compromise reached by the Fisheries Ministers last December, diverges widely from the Commission’s proposal, which was based on scientific advice aimed at rebuilding fish stocks. NGOs claim that prolonged overfishing is undermining confidence in fisheries management at EU level and jeopardising the recovery of Mediterranean stocks, 52% of which are already overexploited. The Commission had already publicly opposed this political agreement by the EU Council, on the grounds that setting the fishing effort is not in line with a ‘multiannual plan for the fisheries exploiting demersal stocks in the Western Mediterranean Sea’ (see EUROPE 13773/14). Link to the published regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/ki9 (LC)