Last Thursday, 4th of April, the European Parliament plenary adopted the text of the new multiannual management plan for the Western Mediterranean.
This plan is an important first step towards improved fisheries management in the Mediterranean, a sea where the European Commission estimates that 93% of the stocks are over-exploited and several of them are on the verge of collapse1.
Recreational fisheries will be covered by this management plan.
The EAA and the EFTTA have strongly advocated for a fair inclusion of the sector in the plan and are pleased to see that the co-legislators finally acknowledged the importance of taking into consideration not only the impact of recreational fishing on fish stocks and the environment, but also “
the societal importance of that activity and its contribution to the economy in coastal areas”
2 when establishing fishing limits for the sector. It is also positive that the plan encourages Member States to collect data on recreational fisheries catches of certain fish species.
The text adopted by the European Parliament must now be adopted also by the Council of the EU and will enter into force on the twentieth day after its publication on the Official Journal of the European Union, probably by the end of the year.
The text of the provisional agreement is available here.
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