EBCD and EU Seafood Alliance urge Commissioner Fitto’s Cabinet to create an EU Blue Foods Action Plan supporting fisheries and aquaculture
Representatives from the European Bureau for Conservation and Development (EBCD) and the EU Seafood Alliance have met with the cabinet of Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Raffaele Fitto to urge the creation of a comprehensive EU Action Plan for Blue Foods.
The meeting, held on 20 October, brought together senior representatives from across Europe’s seafood and aquaculture sectors, including Despina Symons (EBCD), Esben Sverdrup-Jensen (EAPO), Anne-France Mattlet (Europêche), Szilvia Mihálffy (FEAP), and Katarina Sipic (Seafood Europe, formerly AIPCE.CEP).
The delegation pressed the case for stronger recognition of fisheries and aquaculture as essential providers of healthy, low-carbon and nutritious food within the EU’s food systems framework. The organisations said these sectors should be treated as strategic pillars of European food security, climate action, and rural development.
“The Commission linked agriculture and food in its Vision for Food and Agriculture 2040; the same ambition must now be applied to fisheries and aquaculture through a Blue Food Action Plan embedded in the Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040,” the group stated.
During the discussions, the organisations outlined four main priorities for the proposed Blue Foods Action Plan:
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Promoting competitiveness through simpler administration and a fair level playing field;
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Attracting young people to the seafood sector through targeted investment in modernisation and innovation;
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Strengthening policy cohesion across legislation that affects food systems and the blue economy; and
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Positioning blue food products as central to Europe’s food security and sustainability goals.
The group said that many of the sector’s current challenges could be addressed through such an Action Plan, enabling greater innovation, investment and decarbonisation throughout the seafood supply chain.
EBCD and the EU Seafood Alliance added that an EU-wide Blue Foods Action Plan would help Europe consolidate its leadership in sustainable food systems, in line with its commitments under the Ocean Pact and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The EU Seafood Alliance comprises the European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAPO), Europêche, the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), and Seafood Europe (AIPCE.CEP), representing thousands of fishing and aquaculture enterprises across Europe.
