Today, the European Union establishes for the first time, a harmonised system to collect catch data from recreational fisheries in marine coastal areas across the EU.
To manage fish stocks sustainably, it is important to understand the factors that affect them, including the impact of recreational fishing. This new implementing regulation has been adopted to harmonise the reporting process for recreational fishing data from Member States to the Commission. This will help establish a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the current recreational fishing landscape.
As part of the new fisheries control regulation, this initiative addresses a critical knowledge gap by monitoring recreational catches. By doing so, it will provide a clearer picture of the real effects of recreational fishing on the overall health of fish stocks. Accurate data collection is crucial for informed decision-making, enabling policymakers to balance the needs of recreational fishermen with the conservation of marine ecosystems.
To this end, the European Commission will develop RecFishing, an electronic system that will facilitate data collection and catch reporting across the EU, in collaboration with EU coastal countries. This new system will help eliminate existing disparities in data collection and improve the reliability of EU-wide assessments.
The new regulation also introduces measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) and mitigate the environmental impact of abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear. In commercial fishing, gear is typically marked with the owner's identification. In contrast, recreational fishing gear often lacks markings. This is why the regulation foresees the marking of non-handled recreational fishing gear, meaning passive gear such as nets, longlines, traps, pots, and creels. While many Member States already have licensing procedures in place for recreational fishing, the new measures aim to standardize these procedures to ensure consistency and fairness across the EU. Fishing rods are excluded from the regulation and don’t have to be marked.
This new system sets higher standards for sustainable fisheries management with minimal burden for national authorities and fishers by facilitating reporting and enabling cross-border interoperability.
Next steps
The Commission will continue to collaborate with EU countries, the scientific community and the recreational fisheries sector to implement these measures.
Background
The development of these measures involved a collaborative process between national authorities, the scientific community, and key sector stakeholders. Contributions from national experts, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Recreational Fisheries Surveys, the European Anglers Alliance, and other experts helped shape a balanced framework that considers the diversity of recreational fisheries across the EU.
In November 2023, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/2842, introducing new rules on marine recreational fisheries. The new fisheries control regulation sets out detailed requirements for the submission of catch data to the Commission and the marking of gear used for recreational fisheries.
More information
Details
- Publication date
- 12 February 2025
- Author
- Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries