Commercial fishers in the European Union landed EUR 5.5 billion (USD 6.2 billion) worth of fisheries products in 2025, roughly the same value landed in 2024.
The recently released numbers from Eurostat, the E.U.’s official office for statistics, show European fishers harvested slightly more product than the prior year; in 2024, the E.U. landed 3.2 million tons in live weight, while in 2025, the bloc landed 3.3 million tons. Despite the slight growth, the value of those landings remained essentially flat year over year. According to Eurostat, 2025 represents a continuing longer-term decline in E.U. landings by volume, falling from 4.6 million tons in 2017 and 2018 and even further from 5.9 million tons in 2001.
Spain remained the leader of Europe’s fishing nations, accounting for 30.6 percent of the E.U.’s landings by value, slightly up from 30.3 percent in 2024. Next was France, which grew its share of the bloc’s landings from 15.7 percent to 17.6 percent.
Spain also led the E.U. in landings by weight, bringing in 21 percent of total fish mass, followed by Denmark with 16 percent and France with 14 percent.
The vast majority of the bloc’s landings came from the Northeast Atlantic, where blue whiting, sprat, and mackerel were the key species. A total of 72 percent of the E.U.’s landings came from the Northeast Atlantic, with the Mediterranean and Black seas contributing another 8 percent of the total catch led by sardines and anchovies. The Western Indian Ocean accounted for another 7 percent thanks to Europe’s distant-water tuna fleets.
Eurostat confirmed that the E.U.’s fishing fleets continue to shrink, with the total number of vessels declining 13.3 percent over the last decade to just 68,318 fishing vessels in 2025. Overall capacity measured in gross tonnage has shrunk by 13.4 percent to 1.23 million gross tons over the same time frame, and engine power has shrunk by 10.4 percent to 5.04 million kilwatts.
While Spain has the largest fishing fleet in the E.U., representing 24.4 percent of the bloc’s gross tonnage, Italy accounts for more of its engine power, representing 18.9 percent of the E.U.’s total compared to Spain’s 14.5 percent. Italy also has the largest fleet measured by number of vessels, accounting for 18 percent of all fishing vessels in the E.U.
