The European Commission has published its proposal for 2027 fishing opportunities in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, including catch limits for some species and rules on fishing effort for certain fleets.
The proposal is based on existing management plans agreed in recent years through the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), a regional fisheries body that brings together coastal states to set shared rules, the Commission said in a release on Thursday.
Further elements will be added later after the GFCM’s annual session in October and after scientific advice due the same month from the EU’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).
In the western Mediterranean, the Commission proposed keeping the current set of measures under the EU’s multiannual management plan for demersal stocks — fish and shellfish that live on or near the seabed — which entered its permanent phase on 1 January 2025.
Those measures include limits on fishing effort for trawlers and longliners, catch limits for deep-water shrimps, and a “compensation mechanism” for trawlers linked to fishing practices.
Catch limits in the Black Sea and Council decision in December
In the Black Sea, the Commission proposed catch limits and quotas for sprat and turbot, including maintaining the 2026 catch limit for sprat.
For turbot, total allowable catches (TACs) — the maximum quantity allowed to be caught — and quotas were set in line with the GFCM management plan.
EU member states are expected to discuss the proposal and seek political agreement at the Fisheries Council meeting on 14–15 December, with the regulation due to apply from 1 January 2027.
