Seas at Risk: Europe's Small-Scale Fishers Being Failed by İnconsistent Policy İmplementation
Failure to fully implement the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) as intended has led large-scale industrial fisheries to benefit at the expense of small-scale and low-impact fisheries, according to Seas At Risk.
22 Mayıs 2025 - 17:45
A new study, titled “Power structures shaping E.U. fisheries” and commissioned by Seas At Risk – along with partners Sciaena, Ecologistas en Acción, and BUND – determined Europe’s small-scale fishers commonly experience low wages, part-time employment, and exclusion from key decision-making.
“Although small-scale fisheries are critical providers of jobs, cultural heritage, and local food security, they remain underfunded and underrepresented, making them particularly vulnerable to economic marginalization,” Seas At Risk Senior Policy Officer Bruno Nicostrate told SeafoodSource.
The E.U.’s CFP has the framework to ensure small-scale fisheries are prioritized, Seas At Risk maintains, but it is not being consistently implemented.
In other words, while existing laws provide opportunities to transition to low-impact fisheries and support small-scale fishers, policymakers are failing to utilize these options and are often even failing to meet the law’s compulsory minimum requirements, the study said.
With regards to minimum requirements, the NGO points to a continuing disregard for the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) catch limits set by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea regarding several fish stocks each year, despite the CFP’s requirement to end overfishing at the latest by 2020 for all stocks.
“The current use and lack of implementation of the CFP and its implemented regulations have contributed significantly to the concentration of fishing quotas among large-scale industrial operators, exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities and threatening the future of small-scale fisheries,” Nicostrate said.
That concentration of fishing quotas among large-scale operators has especially threatened small-scale fishers, Nicostrate said, explaining that many E.U. member states have based allocations on historical track records and vessel size, granting privilege to larger fleets.
“These criteria advantage industrial operators with the resources to maximize their fishing efforts, while small-scale fishers are left with limited access to quotas,” he said. “The resulting concentration of quotas has driven economic consolidation, with large firms acquiring smaller ones to strengthen their market dominance.”
At the same time, industrial fishing interests exercise considerable influence over E.U. policy through lobbying, and this access has enabled them to shape regulations and quota distributions that often prioritize economic returns over ecological sustainability.
Not only is the lobbying simply resulting in prioritized quota distributions, but there is also a lack of transparency in how the bloc allocates those fishing opportunities …
“Although small-scale fisheries are critical providers of jobs, cultural heritage, and local food security, they remain underfunded and underrepresented, making them particularly vulnerable to economic marginalization,” Seas At Risk Senior Policy Officer Bruno Nicostrate told SeafoodSource.
The E.U.’s CFP has the framework to ensure small-scale fisheries are prioritized, Seas At Risk maintains, but it is not being consistently implemented.
In other words, while existing laws provide opportunities to transition to low-impact fisheries and support small-scale fishers, policymakers are failing to utilize these options and are often even failing to meet the law’s compulsory minimum requirements, the study said.
With regards to minimum requirements, the NGO points to a continuing disregard for the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) catch limits set by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea regarding several fish stocks each year, despite the CFP’s requirement to end overfishing at the latest by 2020 for all stocks.
“The current use and lack of implementation of the CFP and its implemented regulations have contributed significantly to the concentration of fishing quotas among large-scale industrial operators, exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities and threatening the future of small-scale fisheries,” Nicostrate said.
That concentration of fishing quotas among large-scale operators has especially threatened small-scale fishers, Nicostrate said, explaining that many E.U. member states have based allocations on historical track records and vessel size, granting privilege to larger fleets.
“These criteria advantage industrial operators with the resources to maximize their fishing efforts, while small-scale fishers are left with limited access to quotas,” he said. “The resulting concentration of quotas has driven economic consolidation, with large firms acquiring smaller ones to strengthen their market dominance.”
At the same time, industrial fishing interests exercise considerable influence over E.U. policy through lobbying, and this access has enabled them to shape regulations and quota distributions that often prioritize economic returns over ecological sustainability.
Not only is the lobbying simply resulting in prioritized quota distributions, but there is also a lack of transparency in how the bloc allocates those fishing opportunities …
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