Overview
Technical measures may include
- minimum landing sizes and minimum conservation sizes
- specifications for design and use of gears
- minimum mesh sizes for nets
- requirement of selective gears to reduce unwanted catches
- closed areas and seasons
- limitations on by-catches (catches of unwanted or non-target species)
- measures to minimize the impact of fishing on the marine ecosystems and environment
Technical measures regulation
The technical measures regulation entered into force in 2019. Its goal is to contribute to the objectives of the CFP and to achieve good environmental status, as set out in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the relevant provisions of the Birds and Habitats Directives. The regulation helps to increase the fishing yield, while reducing impacts on marine ecosystems, especially through increased selectivity.
EU countries with a fisheries interest in a given sea basin can agree on regional technical measures, adapted to the specific regional circumstances. Such measures can then be adopted as EU secondary legislation, if confirmed by scientists to be consistent with the objectives of the common fisheries policy.
The technical measures regulation aims to de-centralise the management of technical features to the regional level. It is therefore important to measure progress regularly. The regulation states that the Commission should carry out such assessments every 3 years.
Implementation reports
News
The EU took a leading role in the 46th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) which took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, from 23 to 27 September 2024.
Today, the Commission implemented a joint recommendation agreed between France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium through a delegated act securing regional measures in the Bay of Biscay for 2025 to prevent incidental catches of dolphins and other small cetaceans caused by fishing.
Today, the Commission published the first report on the implementation of the multiannual plan (MAP) for the management of fisheries in the North Sea and the Western Waters of the Atlantic Ocean.