PRESS RELEASE - Recreational Fisheries Gain Momentum: European Parliament backs greater inclusion in EU Fisheries Policy

Five Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum—MEPs André Rodrigues, who was chairing the event, and Sakis Arnaoutoglou (S&D), MEPs Isabelle Le Callennec and Niclas Herbst (EPP), and MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (Renew Europe)—participated in the event and expressed strong support for the formal involvement of the recreational fisheries sector in EU fisheries governance.

Mr Stylianos Mitolidis, Director at the European Commission in charge of the ongoing evaluation of the CFP, also attended the event and took note of the contributions made by stakeholders.

MEP Mr André Rodrigues , underlined that “the EU’s angling community is a true guardian of our aquatic environment and the recreational fisheries sector contributes heavily to local communities and the EU’s Blue economy”. He further added that “the knowledge of those engaged in recreational fisheries should be integrated in EU policies which will benefit people and nature.”

The recreational fisheries sector is indeed directly impacted by key management decisions—such as TACs and quotas, control regulations, and technical measures— yet it currently lacks formal representation in advisory and decision-making bodies.

MEP Mr Niclas Herbst, member of the PECH Committee, stated that “in terms of its impact on the socio-economic sustainability of coastal communities, the recreational fisheries sector is not considered at all at the moment when taking management decisions: no consideration in impact assessments, no data collection.” ”this is unfair for the thousands of businesses that rely on the possibility of anglers to have fishing rights”, he added.

As the European Union evaluates its current fisheries policy and prepares the foundations of a new vision for ocean governance through the Ocean’s Pact, the event served as a timely reminder that this low-impact & high-added value sector must be appropriately considered in the decision-making process. 

The recreational fisheries sector stands ready to contribute constructively to a more inclusive, sustainable, and effective EU fisheries governance framework.

You can read more about the event on this page. The agenda of the event can be downloaded here. The panellists’ presentations and the report of the event will be published on that page.

The Forum on Recreational Fisheries and Aquatic Environment (RecFishing Forum) was created in 2014, at the beginning of the previous European Parliament legislature. By providing a cross-party discussion platform, the Forum has been an essential tool for the Members of the European Parliament to establish a direct connection with the recreational fishing community, its network of scientists, in-house experts and other representatives of the sector in order to gather knowledge, information and data on the topics that were discussed in the European Parliament.