Fish better, not more

The EPP Group will vote this week in favour of the new European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) for the period 2021-2027.

"This new Fund will allow the sector to invest in the safety and well-being of fishermen, as well as in environmentally-efficient vessels and will enable generational renewal, while avoiding excess capacity and overfishing. The aim is to fish better, not to fish more”, said Gabriel Mato MEP, Parliament’s negotiator of the Fund.

The new simplified European Fund will provide €6.108 billion for the period 2021-2027 to sustain and modernise the fisheries sector, and will particularly support small-scale coastal fisheries and vessels up to 24 metres as well as promoting aquaculture.

The European Parliament debates the fund today and will vote it into law on Tuesday.

The Fund will help European fishermen and coastal communities to continue transitioning towards stable, profitable and environmentally-friendly value chains, and to improve safety and the quality of catches on EU fishing vessels.

Gabriel Mato also highlighted as an important goal of the EMFAF to turn aquaculture into "a competitive and prosperous activity, thus avoiding dependence on imports from non-EU countries.”

Mato also stressed that the EMFAF will allow, in some cases, such as the crisis caused by COVID-19, "to compensate operators in the fishing and aquaculture sector for lost income or additional costs, since they could receive aid for storage and compensation for the temporary cessation of activities."