The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached a provisional agreement on a new framework for collecting and using statistics related to the bloc’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors.
“Sound fisheries management and a thriving aquaculture sector depend on reliable, high-quality data. Today’s agreement will equip us with a modern framework to make better use of existing information and strengthen the evidence base for our policies while making data collection more efficient and less burdensome for member states and operators alike. It is an important step toward ensuring that our fisheries and aquaculture sectors remain sustainable and resilient for the future,” Irish Minister of State for European Affairs and Defense Thomas Byrne said in a release.
The European Commission first proposed simplifying the E.U.’s fisheries statistics system in July 2025, replacing the five separate regulations governing statistics for E.U. catch data, landings, the fishing fleet, and aquaculture production with a unified, streamlined framework. Among other things, the new regulation is intended to reduce duplicative reporting and ensure E.U. statistics are comparable to international statistics.
On 12 November, the parliament and council agreed to a provisional framework that largely follows the commission’s proposal. Under the agreement, legislators signed off on creating a new Fisheries and Aquaculture Data Portal run by Eurostat, allowing exemptions to member states from some data submissions, and allowing for simplified or aggregated reporting in select cases.
The provisional agreement still needs to be endorsed by both the council and the parliament to be formally adopted.
