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Oceans and fisheries

European Union support

The European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) is one of the five European structural and investment funds (*). The EMFAF supports the EU common fisheries policy (CFP), the EU maritime policy and the EU agenda for international ocean governance and it provides support for developing innovative projects that ensure the sustainable use of aquatic and maritime resources.

As a global ocean actor and a major producer of seafood, the EU has a responsibility to protect and sustainably use the oceans and their resources. It is also in the EU's socio-economic interest to guarantee the availability of food supplies, the competitiveness of the maritime economy and the livelihood of coastal communities.

The fund helps achieve sustainable fisheries and conserve marine biological resources.

The EMFAF is programmed for the period 2021-2027 with a budget of €6.108 billion, of which €5.311 billion is provided through national programmes co-financed by the EU budget and EU countries and €797 million is provided directly by the Commission.

[*] The European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund.

 

The EMFF had six main priorities

  • Sustainable fisheries (26.26%). To strike a balance between human fishing capacity and available natural resources, to fish more selectively and to reduce unintended catches.
  • Sustainable aquaculture (19.78%). To make the sector more successful and competitive by focusing on quality, health and safety, along with eco-friendly production; and to provide consumers with high-quality, highly nutritional and trustworthy products.
  • Implementing the CFP (19.27%). To improve data collection, scientific knowledge, control and enforcement of fisheries legislation.
  • Marketing and processing (18.96%). To improve market organisation, market intelligence and consumer information in the world’s largest seafood market.
  • Employment and territorial cohesion (9.72%). To help coastal and inland fisheries and aquaculture communities gain more value for their products and diversify their economies into other maritime fields, such as tourism or direct sales.
  • Implementing the integrated maritime policy (1.17%). To improve marine knowledge, better plan activities at sea, promote cooperation in maritime surveillance and manage sea basins according to their individual needs.

The remaining 4.84% consisted of technical assistance to help Member States implement the above priorities.

The EMFAF entered into force in July 2021, so at the time of going to press, most EMFAF programmes had not yet been adopted. Thus, sufficient data is not yet available to describe the definitive allocation of EMFAF funding. This section, therefore, focuses on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which covered the 2014-2020 period.

The EMFF did not prescribe how every cent should be spent. Instead, the EU allocated a share of the total budget to each Member State and left it to the national authorities – and local communities – to choose the projects and solutions that worked best for them.

In this way, the EMFF was supporting local initiatives aimed at rebuilding fish stocks, phasing out discards, collecting fisheries data and reducing the human impact on the marine environment. The fund was used to help Member States check that fishers, fish farmers and maritime communities correctly applied the relevant EU rules. The funds were also available for projects encouraging cross-border cooperation in maritime domains such as spatial planning and surveillance.

Although the 2014–2020 programming period is over, beneficiaries may continue to incur expenditure for subsequent reimbursement by Member States until 31 December 2023. The Commission may accept payment claims from Member States until mid 2024.

EMFF contribution – 2014-2020 programming period – Per priority
(in thousand EUR and percentage of total)

 Sustainable fisheriesSustainable aquacultureImplementation
of the CFP
Employment and territorial cohesionMarketing and processingImplementation
of the IMP
Technical assistanceTotal per MS% per MS
AT334 1031 40001 28701406 9650.12
BE15 4765 32513 49405 2109401 30041 7460.74
BG13 39723 1389 82615 79212 2172 3254 12580 8241.43
CY14 3958 4919 0064 9355321 2291 12539 7150.71
CZ023 6222 65303 12501 70731 1080.55
DE51 51167 92260 24920 4998 7242 3508 339219 5963.90
DK79 01722 01970 5467 51814 8382 50011 914208 3553.70
EE15 2037 54713 96226 28229 8862 2635 824100 9701.79
EL119 02562 39470 43359 92552 6874 44512 777381 6886.78
ES286 923170 786154 233106 832313 2235 21752 0831 089 30119.34
FI13 24513 32730 0183 9266 7704 4452 65974 3931.32
FR121 752127 865123 00320 430167 0354 99122 900587 98010.44
HR87 41455 50732 16623 54844 5553329 118252 6434.49
HU1 70324 7092 45109 196035138 4120.68
IE29 07614 90069 7906 00018 5005 3344 000147 6012.62
IT187 76177 773102 42842 71390 2924 04532 246537 2629.54
LT11 20918 1997 9599 87511 5859303 67263 4321.13
LV40 76720 72410 36721 47736 4972 5007 500139 8332.48
NL32 1464 83751 93805 1202 5004 980101 5231.80
PL160 831162 94823 62779 69969 7392 50031 8736 9650.12
PT96 04465 00049 90232 71061 6032 35031 873531 2199.43
RO3 76791 05212 94237 428122 5185 19421 115392 4856.97
SE24 99411 40360 4008 3437 9402 50010 067120 1562.13
SI2 6492 3873 7985 8094 7034 4455 86422 2270.39
SK06 86396503 045093711 8120.21
UK70 60421 57297 63313 76724 0104 88110 669243 1394.32
Total per priority1 478 9541 114 4231 085 202547 5161 068 22765 792272 6965 632 814100

NB: Not relevant for LU.
Source: Launchpad (cutoff: 31 December 2020).