(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Many come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance, where results often follow only after completion of the programmes.
Budget for 2021-2027
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Rationale and design of the programme
The programme promotes sustainable development for fisheries management and maritime governance outside EU waters, in line with the objectives of the common fisheries policy, and ensures that fishery resources are maintained above or restored above levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield and the conservation of marine ecosystems. The programme contributes to achieving this through active involvement in regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) and agreements, and through bilateral Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) with partner countries.
While 79% of all EU catches are taken in EU waters, 13% come from the international high seas and 8% are caught in the exclusive economic zones within 200 nautical miles of partner countries’ waters.
The EU action to promote the sustainabilty of its long-distance fleet is twofold:
- The EU fishing in the high seas is regulated through regional RFMOs and arrangements. RFMOs are international bodies set up to promote the conservation and sustainability of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks; and
- in the 200 nautical miles partner countries’ waters, EU fishing preferably takes place through SFPAs negotiated by the EU with partner countries.
The EU is present in all of the world’s oceans through its fleets, and is therefore committed to contributing to global ocean and fisheries governance through determined and ambitious action at the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels through our duty of cooperation as enshrined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to cooperate with other parties by participating in such organisations.
The EU negotiates, concludes and implements bilateral SFPAs with non-EU countries. Within the framework of SFPAs, the Commission maintains a political dialogue on fishery-related policies with a number of third countries, in line with the principles governing the common fisheries policy and the commitments under other relevant EU policies. In addition, SFPAs provide a financial contribution, the aims of which is to support the sustainable development of the fisheries sector in partner countries and to contribute to the better governance of their fisheries. This includes, in particular, improving the scientific and technical knowledge of relevant fisheries; contributing to control and surveillance and to the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; and supporting small scale and artisanal fisheries.
Through its membership of internatational organisations dealing with fisheries management and RFMOs, the EU is committeed to the long-term sustaniblity of the stocks under their purview. The EU pays compulsory annual budget contributions deriving from its membership of international bodies, including various RFMOs. The EU implements in those organisations its objective to support the implemeation of Green Deal and Biodiversity Strategy and the external dimension of the CFP, including the long-term sustainability of the stocks, support to science and scientific-based management decisions, a culture of compliance, the fight against IUU fishing and the undertaking of regular performing reviews to ensure that RFMOs continue to be fit for purpose.
The main objective of the programme is to promote sustainable fisheries worldwide and improved international ocean governance, which includes:
- promoting, through active involvement in international organisations, and in line with the objectives of the Green Deal and the common fisheries policy, the conservation and sustainable management of the stocks under their purview and their ecosystem;
- establishing, through SFPAs, a legal, economic and environmental governance framework for fishing activities carried out by European Union fishing vessels in third country waters, in line with international standards, the principles of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and other EU policies.
The programme pursues the above objectives by (1) supporting the negotiation, conclusion and implementation of bilateral SFPAs and (2) paying the compulsory annual contributions deriving from the EU's membership of international bodies.
Payments under SFPAs and RFMOs and agreements are managed under direct management. The Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is in the lead DG for the Commission.
During 2021-2027, the Commission will continue its membership of RFMO organisations and continue to ensure the timely renewal of SFPAs and their protocols and carefully monitor their implementation. Emphasis will be put on appropriate reporting of activities financed under the SFPA sectoral support component, raising awareness of concrete action achieved.
Programme website:
Impact assessment:
- N/A
Relevant regulation:
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
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Budget performance – implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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Voted budget implementation (million EUR)(1):
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- 4.9% of the 2023 commitments (all of which have now been paid) went towards paying membership fees to RFMOs. The rest of the appropriations were spent on fishing access for the EU fleet to the waters of non-EU countries, mostly in West Africa and in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and contributing to the sustainable development of their local fishing activities.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
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Climate change
The actions financed by the European Commission support, in RFMOs, the integration of climate change considerations in the management of the marine biological resources and their ecosystems – with the final objective of promoting their adaptation and resilience to climate change, at a bilateral level, through SFPAs.
Climate change considerations are, where appropriate and available, incorporated into the scientific and stock management discussions in RFMOs. They are also incorporated into SFPAs, as they follow the management decisions of RFMOs.
In total, in the 2021-2027 period, SFPAs and RFMOs will contribute an estimated EUR 102 million to this priority. The contribution of the SFPAs represents 40% of the sectoral support, whereas the contribution of the RFMOs represents 40% of the total amount allocated.
Biodiversity
The actions financed by the European Commission in RFMOs are consistent with the objectives of the EU biodiversity strategy to conserve marine stocks, prevent the loss of biodiversity and protect fragile ecosystems. RFMOs promote the sustainability of the stocks and their ecosystem. This includes not only the sustainable management of targeted species, but the implementation of mitigation measures for by-catch species (turtles, vulnerable shark species, rays, seabirds, etc.) and the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (e.g. corals).
An area where the EU actions on climate change and biodiversity come together is the support to the development of management procedures and management strategy evaluation frameworks for key fish stocks, that are robust to uncertainties including those introduced or exacerbated by climate change. In that regard, the EU will promote the development dedicated robustness tests that could provide meaningful proxies for designing future management procedures that are resilient to stressors driven by climate change.
Likewise, SFPAs support some actions to enhance the scientific capacity of non-EU countries in areas covering both the conservation of marine resources and the assessment of the effect of climate change , with concrete measure regarding for example the management of marine protected areas.
In addition, actions supported through the sectoral support component of SFPAs promote long-term resource conservation, ecosystem protection measures, the fight against illegal fishing and the sustainable development of our partners’ local fisheries sector, with a positive effect on biodiversity.
In total, in the 2021-2027 period, SFPAs and RFMOs will contribute an estimated EUR 127 million to this priority. The contribution of the SFPAs represents 40% of the sectoral support, whereas the contribution of the RFMOs represents 100% of the total amount allocated .
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
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| Gender disaggregated information: |
|---|
| The actions under this programme are related to negotiating, concluding and implementing international agreements relating to fisheries and paying compulsory annual budget contributions. These actions were not designed with gender equality in mind. However many actions do benefit women, who represent an important part of the workforce in the fish processing sector. These actions include, training, acquisition of small equipment and building capacity, which contribute to reinforcing gender equality in the fishing sector. The financial contribution of these actions, however, is not quantifiable as there is no agreed methodology to define, identify and monitor such actions in the sectoral support programmes of the various partner countries. |
Digital
Contribution to the digital transition (million EUR):
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RFMOs and SFPAs do not target projects with a digital component.
Budget performance – outcomes
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Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- Overall, the EU remains one of the key drivers of progress in RFMOs, increasing their performance with concrete proposals. The EU’s voluntary contributions (grants) to RFMOs played a key role in allowing them to provide scientific advice. The Commission continued to deliver on its commitment to achieve more sustainable fisheries worldwide: 88% of all conservation measures adopted in 2023 by RFMOs of which the EU is a member were in line with scientific advice.
- Regarding the number of conservation measures adopted based on scientific advice, for the current reporting period, 36 out of 41 conservation measures adopted by RFMOs for the management of the stocks under their purview were in line with scientific advice (i.e. 88% of all conservation measures adopted). This outcome is less positive than the results achieved in 2022 (97%), which were above the target of 95%, but is similar to the result achieved in 2019 (88%) and above that of 2020 (74%). More importantly, while this clearly shows the difficulty to achieve the 95% target, the outcome maintains an upward trend for the period, as close as possible to the target. The outcome for 2023 of 88% does not include three conservation measures that have been adopted but will only enter into force once new scientific advice is available .
- Regarding the first indicator, 18 out of 20 tuna and tuna-like stocks fished by the EU fleet are in good shape. In 2022, 85%of the total commercial tuna catch worldwide came from stocks at ‘healthy’ levels of abundance. This is because skipjack stocks contribute more than one half of the global catch of tunas, and they are all in a healthy situation. By contrast, bigeye and yellowfin in the Indian Ocean are currently overfished, despite the efforts from the EU to reverse the trend.
- Regarding SFPAs, the general objective has been to implement and renew the network of agreements and active protocols to ensure continuity in the activities of the EU’s long-distance fishing fleet in non-EU-country waters, strictly respecting the sustainability and surplus principles.
- On some occasions, negotiations took more time than expected because the financial expectations of the non-EU countries could not be met. As a result, shipowners had to stop fishing or modify their strategies, in the context of sharp global competition between various long-distance fishing fleets. Shipowners were generally able to find other fishing grounds in countries benefiting from an SFPA, or sometimes in other countries.
- In the context of the implementation of the protocols, which is an important part of programme’s performance and concerns both access conditions for EU vessels and the monitoring of sectoral support, joint committee meetings were held regularly with all partner countries.
- Direct employment generated by SFPAs includes crew on board EU vessels benefiting from fishing opportunities in SFPAs and covers both EU and non-EU nationals. As for indirect jobs, they are mostly in the processing sector and are to a large extent occupied by women. The employment of local crew also contributes to enhancing the levels of qualification and experience of employed seamen to the benefit of local fleets, and SFPA protocols have reinforced the provisions regarding the social dimenstion of fishing and the social rights benefiting fishers.
- Most catches made in the framework of SFPAs land in non-EU countries, where they are processed, thus generating added value for the local economy and job opportunities. SFPAs also generate additional jobs for the partner country in sectors such as shipyards and port activities (together with the elements mentioned above, they contribute to sustainable fisheries with partner countries).
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
| SDG | Example |
|---|---|
| SDG14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development | The programme promotes the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas, and marine resources for example by improving management measures adopted following scientific advice and by promoting healthy tuna stocks in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and through the governance framework established by SFPAs with a number of non-EU countries. |