Spanish fishing organisation, Cepesca, accuses EU plan of diluting fishing’s identity, slashing funds, threatening fleets and food security
The Spanish fishing industry, represented by Cepesca, has opened the political season with a warning shot at Brussels, accusing the European Commission of trying to dilute fishing’s identity as an economic and strategic sector.
The anger follows the Commission’s proposals for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034, which would overhaul how funds for the industry are distributed.
Funding Slashed and Identity Diluted
Under the plan, funding for fishing would be cut by 67%, from €6.1 billion to €2 billion. Worse, the money would no longer sit in a dedicated fisheries fund but be absorbed into a wider pot, the European Fund for Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, Agriculture and Rural Areas, Fisheries and the Sea, Prosperity and Security. Fishing would be just one of several activities competing for support.
Cepesca said this approach dilutes the identity of fishing as a unique economic activity and undermines its strategic role within the EU. The sector pointed to existing structural problems, such as the lack of generational renewal, as reasons why fishing cannot afford to lose its policy focus.
It also stressed that fishing remains one of the EU’s few genuine common policies, making the absence of a ring-fenced budget all the more alarming. In Cepesca’s view, the Commission’s plan will erode fleet competitiveness, raise seafood prices, and increase dependence on imports.
No Specific Allocation for Fishing
The Commission’s legislative proposal, set out in Article 10, lumps agriculture and fishing into a single budget line but does not specify any figure for the latter. The Spanish sector has demanded clarity. With 8,432 vessels, 30,494 crew and 765,638 tonnes of annual catches — representing 22% of the EU total — Spain is the bloc’s leading fishing nation, and Cepesca insists it deserves a clear, separate allocation.
Javier Garat, secretary general of Cepesca, said: “We have two years of negotiations ahead, and we want our government, alongside others with strong fishing traditions, to create a common front. Only a harmonised co-financing system will allow us to modernise, ensure sustainability, and guarantee safety on equal terms across member states. That is the only way European fishing can remain competitive on the world stage.”
Crisis for Distant-Water Fleets
Cepesca also used the start of the political year to demand urgent action for Spain’s high-seas and distant-water fleets, which it says are facing a critical situation. The sector points to five “adverse” factors hitting simultaneously: reduced fishing opportunities, unfair competition from third-country fleets, lack of generational renewal, high taxation, and rising operating costs.
It wants the government to put forward a dedicated action plan, including tax and labour incentives for crews, funding for fleet renewal and modernisation, active training and recruitment policies, measures to revive seafood consumption, tighter import controls, and stronger defence of Spanish fishing interests.
Cepesca is calling for a Special Register for distant-water vessels and crew, with tailored fiscal, social security and operating conditions suited to the international nature of their work.
Julio Morón, president of Cepesca, said: “It makes no sense that our fishermen are forced to work on vessels flying other flags because the Spanish tax system is uncompetitive. This cannot continue if we want to safeguard the future of the fleet and maintain high-quality fish products.”
The organisation warned that these fleets, which fish in international and third-country waters, are strategic pillars of Spain’s fishing sector. Their survival, it stressed, underpins seafood supply, jobs in home ports, and the defence of European interests in external fishing grounds.
Mediterranean Negotiations Loom
The Mediterranean is another pressing battleground. The Spanish fleet argues that fish populations have improved and that this should translate into more fishing days and the removal of red shrimp quotas when EU fisheries ministers meet in Brussels on 11–12 December.
Spanish trawlers have complied fully with Brussels’ demands, installing selective gear and “flying doors” at their own expense, yet they face ever-tightening restrictions. The quota on red shrimp is especially contentious, with the sector arguing that it makes no sense to impose both a catch limit and effort controls when the stock is healthy. In 2025, Spain’s fleet will be capped at 710 tonnes of red shrimp, a figure that many vessels say will force them to stop operating before the year ends.
Since the 2020 entry into force of the Demersal Fisheries Multiannual Plan, the Mediterranean fleet has lost over 40% of its fishing days and 20% of its red shrimp catches. The European Commission’s 2024 proposal for a 79% cut in fishing days would have left vessels with barely 27 days at sea per year on average, a move only softened after bitter negotiations.
Brussels Dialogue Fails to Convince
Cepesca welcomed the more conciliatory tone of the new European fisheries commissioner, Costas Kadis, and initiatives such as the EU Ocean Pact, the 2040 vision for fishing, and the planned reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. But the sector warned that dialogue means little without immediate actions to improve conditions on the water.
It cited the closure of 87 areas to bottom fishing in the northeast Atlantic, introduced in October 2022, as a prime example of disproportionate and scientifically questionable regulation. That ban, affecting trawl, longline and gillnet gear, was challenged by the Spanish government and Burela producers’ organisation but upheld by the EU General Court in June 2025. Madrid has since appealed to the Court of Justice of the EU, a move Cepesca said it supports.
Cepesca insists that unless Brussels changes course, the EU risks undermining one of its own common policies, eroding fleet competitiveness and weakening Europe’s ability to supply its own seafood.
