The 29th session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), held in La Réunion from 13 to 17 April 2025, concluded with the adoption of a full management framework for tropical tunas. This is a key step which will allow now to focus on other tuna species and control measures, in order to ensure a minimum level playing field between the different fleet within the Indian Ocean. Europêche calls on all IOTC parties and stakeholders to implement and enforce the adopted measures as soon as possible, as well as to begin addressing management needs for other tuna and associated species.

Yesterday, EPP MEP Isabelle Le Callennec, with Europêche’s collaboration, successfully hosted Competitive Blue Tech for Sustainable High Seas Fisheries at the European Parliament. Mr. Polyvios Eliofotou, member of the cabinet of Costas Kadis, Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, also introduced the event. Le Callennec was positive that thanks to this event, fisheries and their stakeholders were able to demonstrate their involvement in blue technological and industrial innovation at a critical moment: the EU Clean Industrial Deal is still to be shaped and the European Oceans Pact will be key in the discussions in Nice, at the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (9-13 June 2025).

The Europêche Tuna Group organised on January 21st in Bermeo its third meeting between industry and science stakeholders at European Level entitled: “Stock assessments in tuna RFMOs”. Scientists from the French Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), the Instituto Español de Oceanografia (IEO) and AZTI, a research institution in Spain and meeting host, brainstormed about how better bridge science with fishers’ reality and align fisheries management with scientific evaluation, including consideration of socio-economic indicators in the decision-making process. Ensuring that management measures are well aligned with scientific evaluations is also a common concern of both scientists and fishers.

The control rule on margin of tolerance is currently incompatible with the conditions and specificities inherent to the fishing operations in the tropical tuna purse seine fishery. Crushed by heavy sanctions, EU tuna vessels operating in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans might disappear in the very near future.

Europêche

Europêche, the leading trade body representing the fishing industry in Europe, strengthens its team to boost the organisation’s support for sustainable tuna fishing and to promote the voice of the sector in wider EU and international decision making. Newly founded Europêche’s tuna group will advocate the interests of the EU and associated tuna freezer purse-seine fleet to enhance business competitiveness, improve the image of the sector, contribute to sustainable ocean governance, support the fight against IUU and labour abuse, and achieve an international level playing field.

Europêche

Large pelagic drift nets, are nets of over 2,5-kilometer-long and many meters deep, that are left drifting in the ocean to catch any living creature that happens to swim by. The international community and the EU have long adopted a global moratorium on all large-scale pelagic drift-nets fishing in the world’s oceans and seas, especially to catch migratory species such as tuna. However, their use is still overspread, especially in the Indian Ocean, responsible nowadays for around 20% of the total catches of yellowfin tuna and high levels of by-catch of threatened and protected species such as sharks, marine mammals and turtles. The tuna fishing industry represented by Europêche calls on the EU and IOTC parties to stop turning a blind eye on this long-lasting problem and make a stand against these illegal practices during the next IOTC meeting.

Europeche

810.000 tonnes of imported fish will annually benefit from massive tariff derogations regardless of their origin, way of production, sustainability of the stock, labour standards or even if the third country has been identified by the EU for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Europeche

Europêche has presented today a request to the European Commission for the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of tuna processed loins - mainly skipjack - originating in China, which are causing serious economic damage to the European fishing industry. The information furnished by Europêche to the European authorities discloses the existence of unlawful aids and tax breaks allegedly granted by the Chinese Administration to the Chinese exporters of both tuna loins and canned tuna. The European fishing sector urges the EU to eliminate any present and future tariff derogations granted to tuna loins, which mainly come from China, to mitigate further market and economic disruption.

Europêche

The newly elected chair of the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries (PECH) Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, FR), was guest of honour at last week's Europêche General Assembly meeting to discuss the many pressing issues faced by the fishing sector.

Europêche

This week, the Council adopted a regulation setting autonomous EU tariff quotas (ATQs) for certain fishery products for the years 2019 and 2020. The ATQ regulation covers species such as tuna, Alaska pollack, cod or flatfish for which a relatively high volume can be imported from non-EU countries at a reduced or zero-duty tariff. Up to 750.000 tonnes of fish will benefit from this scheme and will enter the European markets regardless of their origin, way of production, sustainability of the stock, labour standards or even if the third country has been identified by the EU for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Europêche believes that, in many cases, ATQs serve the sole purpose of getting a better price from non-EU producers, while putting pressure on EU producers’ prices and employment.

Europeche

Earlier this year, a group of researches claimed that fishing activities occurred in 55% of the world’s oceans [1]. As a result, their study found that the area fished is four times bigger than the area occupied by agriculture in terms of square kilometres. Europêche then argued that the study was based on scientifically unsound data [2], overestimating the proportion of the seabed where fishing occurs. A new scientific research developed by the Department of Marine Sciences and Fisheries of the University of Washington evidences this by showing that when low-resolution data are replaced by high-resolution data, the true footprint of fishing is revealed to be less than 4%. Science confirms that fishing continues to hold the first place as the lowest impact production method.