AGRIFISH Briefing: How EU decisions on fishing quotas will set the tone for 2021

Seas At Risk, together with Our Fish, ClientEarth, Sciaena, the Pew Charitable Trust and Oceana, hosted a press briefing ahead of the upcoming AGRIFISH Council meeting at which EU countries will set fishing limits for 2021 for some 30 fish stocks managed exclusively by the EU.

These fish populations make up 25% of the Northeast Atlantic stocks fished by EU Member States. As negotiations with the UK and Norway on shared stocks will take place separately, the upcoming Council meeting will be a test of EU commitment to addressing biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. Decisions taken by fisheries ministers will either lead to ‘overfishing as usual’ or set a positive example and deliver on EU legal obligations and Green Deal ambition, ahead of the negotiations with Norway and the UK.