The EU invests €2,2 million to develop the fishing vessel of the future

Today, the European Commission has launched a call for proposals to develop a demonstrator marine fishing vessel equipped with alternative propulsion technologies and innovative energy solutions. The pilot project aims to significantly improve the energy performance of the current fishing vessels, reducing their greenhouse emissions and enhancing the sector’s economic resilience.

The project should demonstrate the feasibility of the chosen technologies and showcase the results to stakeholders, including fishers, investors, coastal communities, and young people. This technological advancement will strengthen the fisheries sector with numerous benefits:

• Increased fuel independence: reduced reliance on fossil fuels, making the sector more resilient to price fluctuations and ensuring long-term stability.
• Enhanced economic resilience: lower fuel costs will translate into increased financial viability for fishing businesses in the future.
• Environmental benefits: reduced emissions will significantly contribute to a cleaner ocean and healthier fish populations.

With this investment, the Commission delivers on its commitment to further test and demonstrate innovations on fishing vessels, as stated in the Communication on the Energy Transition of the EU fisheries and Aquaculture sector in February 2023.

The budget for this call for proposals comes from the European Union’s annual budget and was deployed at the request of the European Parliament as a pilot project.

Next steps

The call is open until 11 June 2024 and the project(s) will be selected by the end of the third quarter of 2024. All the information about the call is available on the website The call will be managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.

An informative session is planned on Monday 18 March 2024 14:30-16:30. Register to the informative session before 14 March.

Background

When fuel prices increased in 2021 and 2022, a large part of the EU fishing fleet was unable to cover operational costs. This dependency on fossil fuels makes the sector vulnerable to increases in energy prices and affects its economic resilience to future shocks.

The sector’s energy transition will support the EU objectives on sustainable energy, strategic autonomy, and a climate-neutral, pollution-free EU economy by 2050.

More information

If you are interested in joining forces on the Fisheries and Aquaculture Energy Transition Partnership, please visit our website or contact us at MARE-ENERGY-TRANSITIONec [dot] europa [dot] eu (MARE-ENERGY-TRANSITION[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

Stakeholders expressing interest in the partnership will participate in dialogue and workshops on different themes and will be engaged in the process to propose a roadmap with practical solutions to accelerate the energy transition in the sector.