Italian MEPs against Brussels’ proposed Mediterranean fishing quotas reduction

Brussels – It doesn’t happen often, but now and then, in Brussels, the Italian government and opposition parties find themselves on the same side of the fence. It happened again today (Dec. 5) during a discussion with the European Commission on the rules to be applied in 2025 for fishing in the Mediterranean Sea, which include a reduction in fishing quotas for certain fish stocks in the world’s largest closed sea. Berlaymont’s goal would be to make professional fishing more sustainable by intervening in both catch quotas and the tools used by fishermen.

The EU executive’s decision, announced in September and contested by the Democratic Party and Lega’s MEPs, concerns the reduction of fishing efforts in Mediterranean waters, where quotas would be reduced by 38 per cent for cod and by 29 per cent for red shrimp, while longline fishing is expected to be reduced by a quarter compared to 2024. The overall reductions differ depending on the countries involved; for Italy, it would be around 30 per cent considering the Adriatic, Ionian, and Tyrrhenian Seas. The formal presentation of the proposal, which in the Commission’s plans should become operational as early as next January, will take place at the Agrifish Council on December 9–10.

According to Giuseppe Lupo (PD), the Brussels proposal represents “a gift to fishing companies from non-EU countries, from which we already import 65 per cent of the fish consumed in Europe, and is incompatible with the economic and social sustainability of the sector.” For the Dem parliamentarian, who spoke during a debate in the Fisheries (PECH) committee in the EU Parliament, to protect fish stocks and promote their recovery the College “must first combat the main causes of pollution in the Mediterranean such as spillage of unpurified water and micro-plastics.” At the same time, the decision in question should be reviewed as it “would jeopardize the survival of Mediterranean fisheries.”

Leghist Anna Maria Cisint, a member of the same parliamentary committee, also criticized the Berlaymont line. For the Lega’s deputy, the proposal of the EU executive department that manages fisheries-related files (DG Mare) must be ditched. “The new Commission is proving to be worse than the previous one,” she said, adding that “a decisive intervention is needed to protect our country, given that hundreds of jobs in the entire fishing sector, already burdened by the restrictions imposed over the past five years, are at risk,” to prevent the “slow agony” of Italian fishermen from worsening.

The Commission’s proposal is part of the so-called multi-annual management plan (MAP) of the demersal stocks in the Western Mediterranean, which covers those fish species living in the deepest part of the water basins. The Map adopted in 2019 introduced a fishing effort regime for trawlers that aims for a 40 per cent reduction until 2025, when the transitional phase will end.

Next January, therefore, the permanent phase will begin, in which the new Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) intervals, i.e., a sustainable fishing strategy that aims to achieve the highest long-term, predictable catch from a stable and “balanced” environment by indicating a maximum value beyond which the productivity of the stock is assumed to decline. The new fishing opportunities will be determined on the basis of recommendations to be produced by the Scientific, Technical, and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), an advisory body that provides opinions to the Community Executive.