A group of conservation NGOs have asked European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by implementing digital controls.
“Commissioner, your leadership sends a clear signal. We encourage you to stay on this course. We stand ready to support the full and effective implementation of a control system that Europe’s fisheries, coastal communities, and citizens urgently need,” the joint letter reads.
CATCH, a new digital system that replaces Europe’s paper-based process for seafood imports, was agreed to two years ago but only went into effect 10 January 2026. The policy requires all seafood imports to include digital documentation of the unique vessel identification number, the start date of the fishing trip, gear type, and location of the catch.
“By streamlining the exchange of information between E.U. traders and control authorities, the new system should make it easier to ensure that all products entering the E.U. are legal and meet the E.U.’s regulatory standards. A more modern and effective control system helps create a level playing field for E.U. fishers, with all imported products meeting E.U. standards,” the European Commission Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said in a release last month.
CATCH was developed alongside a new Fisheries Control Regulation, which requires electronic tracking systems for all E.U. fishing vessels and the digitization of catch reporting. The Fisheries Control Regulation will not go into effect for another two years, but some commercial fishing groups are already voicing concerns with parts of the new system.
LIFE, an organization that represents small-scale fishers across 15 E.U. member states, said commercial fishers in Spain protested the forthcoming Fisheries control Regulation following the 10 January implementation of CATCH.
“The lack of information and uncertainty that Member States are providing on how the digitization system will work, from the electronic logbook on board to the new obligation to carry a VMS system on small-scale vessels, is a cause for concern for the sector, which demands that they be taken into account in its design,” LIFE noted at the time.
At the January meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (Agrifish), several E.U. member states raised concerns with implementation of CATCH and the Fisheries Control Regulation. Belgium, Czechia, France, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, and Spain took issue with the “administrative burdens” of the regulations, arguing that “there is a genuine impossibility of implementing certain obligations.”
Kadis responded to those concerns during his remarks to the Agrifish Council, warning E.U. member states to not attempt to unilaterally exempt their commercial fishers from the new regulations.
“This revision brought the control system to the digital age, with streamlined procedures and more precise control over the fishing activities,” Kadis said in his 25 January remarks. “Hence, this revision was and remains a major legislative and political achievement. We should not jeopardize it now.”
Kadis went on to call the launch of CATCH “successful,” noting that 1,500 import declarations were validated in the first 10 days.
“Against this background, let me clarify an important point: Some of the issues raised today and attributed to CATCH are in fact not a new obligation. They are the result of the uneven and ineffective application of the E.U. catch certification scheme in its paper format at national level,” Kadis said. “As I already mentioned during the Agrifish Council last June, it is the responsibility of each Member State to ensure that their operators are prepared and ready on time to onboard and use CATCH.”
Now, several conservation NGOs have signed a joint letter addressed to Kadis, asking the commissioner to continue standing behind the new digital requirements.
“We urge you to stick to your commitments,” the groups stated in the letter. “Strong E.U. rules to detect and deter IUU fishing are indispensable, not just for protecting Europe’s fish populations from unmonitored quota uptake, but for credibly asking third countries to do more to fight illegal and unsustainable fishing and avoiding illegal seafood entering the E.U. market.”
The letter was signed by the Environmental Justice Foundation, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, ClientEarth, Oceana, Seas At Risk, and the World Wildlife Fund European Policy Office.
