Press releases/news articles

EUMOFA has launched today the world’s most comprehensive publicly accessible trade database on fisheries and aquaculture products.

On 30 September, the European Commission and Germany have kicked off the first Marine Regions Forum. Gathering experts from different disciplines, the Forum will bring the much-needed regional perspective into international ocean governance and foster cross-border and interdisciplinary cooperation to achieve healthy, safe and productive seas.

The European Commission has published a new call for grants to support the development of ocean energy in Europe. Budgeted at € 2.3 million, this call wants to attract projects that can improve environmental monitoring of tidal and wave energy devices. Interested? Have a look at the Commission’s Funding Portal for more detail. Deadline for applications is 15 January 2020.

Last week, twenty fisheries inspectors from the Republic of The Gambia received training in control techniques to fight and deter Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).

Today, the Polarstern icebreaker will embark on a year-round expedition to study climate change in the Arctic. On board is a team of scientists, supported by the EU, who will conduct pioneering research on the marine ecosystems of the central Arctic ocean. The results of their expedition will improve our understanding of these ecosystems and help us determine whether fish stocks might exist in this area that could be harvested on a sustainable basis.

On beaches across Europe and the world, EU staff are joining hands with local communities to clean up marine litter as part of the #EUBeachCleanUp campaign.

Improving the coordination between maritime authorities and across borders is a long-winded work. The key to success is interoperability: the technical ability to exchange information between systems that were developed completely independent from each other. The EU’s Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) is doing exactly that, and just last week, the European Commission has released a staff working document to present its progress so far.

Women play a key role in fishing and aquaculture — but too often their work remains unrecognised and underpaid. Limited career choices, unfair pay gaps — many women have a hard time making their way in this male-dominated sector.

At the first Blue Partnership Forum for the Oceans (05/09/2019), the European Commission and Chinese authorities have shown their eagerness to work together and improve international ocean governance. Together with Chinese and European stakeholders, both administrations have started to define joint actions that will implement the Ocean Partnership, signed in July 2018.

The EU and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania have agreed to extend, for maximum one year, the protocol to the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement which was due to expire in November 2019.

The European Commission looks back on very constructive negotiations with international partners to protect the marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction – commonly called the high seas.

The Commission has adopted a proposal for fishing opportunities for 2020 for the commercially most important fish stocks in the Baltic Sea.

Want to shake off the work week and relive some of your holiday memories? Then why not go to a nearby beach and help clean it!

The 2019 annual economic report on the EU fishing fleet shows that the high levels of economic performance in 2016 have continued into 2017. The report links this success to the use of sustainable fishing methods.

The sixth Meeting of the Parties to the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), which took place in Mauritius from 1-5 July, resulted in significant progress towards strengthening the regulatory framework of this relatively new organisation.

On September 20th, the European Commission is organising the annual Seminar on Fisheries Science dedicated to exploring the research needs and priorities in the field of fisheries for the next decade.

The Commission has decided to ask Ireland officially to conduct an administrative inquiry to evaluate its capacity to apply the rules of the common fisheries policy (CFP).

The Entry/Exit scheme aims to align the capacity of the EU fishing fleet with available fishing resources. In particular, this means that the capacity of any vessel entering the fishery is balanced by the prior withdrawal of a vessel or vessels with the equivalent capacity.

EMD In My Country was very popular this year, reaching the unprecedented number of 145 events organised in 21 different countries (15 EU and 6 non-EU), attracting 25.000 participants!

On 19 July 2019 the EU and Senegal concluded a new implementing protocol to the existing sustainable fisheries partnership agreement.