The EU, Norway and the UK agree on fishing opportunities in the North Sea for 2025

On Friday 29 November, the EU concluded an agreement with Norway and the UK securing sustainable management of North Sea stocks. The agreement will also secure valuable fishing opportunities and provide predictability for the EU fleets in 2025.

The trilateral arrangement between the EU, Norway and the United Kingdom on jointly managed fish stocks in the North Sea for 2025 establishes total allowable catches (TAC) of over 958,000 tonnes, covering EU quotas of almost 463,000 tonnes of cod, haddock, saithe, whiting, plaice and herring.

The agreement on TACs includes a reduction for cod, consistent with the International Council of the Sea’s (ICES) advice. Fishing opportunities for North shelf cod were set in line with the precautionary advice by ICES for the southern component and at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels for both Viking and Northwestern sub-stocks. The EU, UK and Norway also agreed to carry over existing area closures. 

TACs were set in line with ‘maximum sustainable yield’ - the highest amount of fish that can be taken from the environment without harming its ability to reproduce and sustain its population - for saithe, plaice and haddock, and below the MSY advice for North Sea whiting to cater for its interaction with cod and other demersal fisheries.

The EU, UK and Norway decided to set TACs for North Sea herring in line with the MSY advice by ICES and recalled their intention to review the management model in 2025. 

The parties also agreed to continue cooperating on monitoring, control and surveillance to improve compliance and achieve a level playing field.

Next steps 

The catch limits agreed between the EU, UK and Norway will be submitted for incorporation into the Fishing Opportunities Regulation for 2025, during the upcoming Council of EU fisheries ministers on 9 and 10 December.

More information

Northern agreements