Fisheries: supporting EU fishing vessels in international waters
MEPs are set to approve a fisheries agreement with Greenland and back a legislative change to better identify countries facilitating non-sustainable fishing practices.
Both reports, to be put to a vote in plenary on Tuesday and Wednesday, will affect the EU fleet fishing outside the Union waters and the management of fish stocks shared with non-EU countries.
EU-Greenland sustainable fisheries partnership agreement
On Tuesday, Parliament will vote on the new protocol for the 2025-2030 EU-Greenland fisheries agreement. The EU will pay €17.3 million per year to access the autonomous territory’s fisheries resources, with €14.1 million covering access rights and €3.2 million to support Greenland’s fisheries sector.
The EU trades a significant part of its Greenland quotas with Norway. The remaining quotas are currently allocated to Germany (mainly for halibut, cod and redfish) and Denmark and France (for prawn). However Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania usually use intra-EU quota swaps to secure most of these.
Measures against countries allowing non-sustainable fishing
On Wednesday, MEPs will decide on updated rules to tackle unsustainable fishing practices allowed by non-EU countries concerning shared fish stocks. The draft regulation clarifies the situations in which countries would be considered as allowing non-sustainable fishing practices, as well as the conditions that could lead to EU penalties or restrictions such as import bans. The purpose of the updated rules is to safeguard the sustainability of common fish stocks, while guaranteeing fairer competition for European fishers.
Votes: Tuesday 8 July (EU-Greenland fisheries agreement) and Wednesday 9 July (measures against countries allowing non-sustainable fishing)
Procedure: Consent (EU-Greenland) and ordinary legislative procedure (non-sustainable fishing)