Independent study highlights some challenges in implementing the landing obligation across EU fisheries - European Commission
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Oceans and fisheries
  • News announcement
  • 16 June 2025
  • Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
  • 1 min read

Independent study highlights some challenges in implementing the landing obligation across EU fisheries

Fish market in Marseille, France © ducgiang1206 / Adobe Stock
Fish market in Marseille, France
© ducgiang1206/stock.adobe.com

Today, the European Commission published an independent study assessing the performance of the landing obligation. Five years after its full implementation, the study concludes that the landing obligation has not reached its full potential.

The landing obligation was introduced in 2015 and came fully into force in  January 2019. Its goal is to eliminate wasteful discards – catches returned to sea - by encouraging fishers to fish more selectively and to avoid unwanted catches. 

While the fisheries sector, national authorities and scientific institutions made significant efforts to innovate in fishing gear, technologies and practices to reduce unwanted catches, the study shows that there are some challenges in the effectiveness of the landing obligation objective of gradually eliminating discards.

The independent study highlights a number of potential limiting factors on the implementation of the landing obligation, including

  • insufficient incentives for fishers to comply
  • ineffective monitoring and enforcement tools
  • conflicts with maintaining the economic viability of fisheries due to the loss of commercially valuable catches when increasing selectivity
  • challenges in improving species and gear selectivity

The large number of available exemptions to the landing obligation made it difficult to directly trace impacts within a fleet, fishery and sea basin. 

This independent study was conducted by external experts, and it was based on desk research, case studies, surveys and interviews. The study was launched in 2024, and its results will feed into the ongoing evaluation of the common fisheries policy regulation.

Next steps

The results of the study will be discussed with stakeholders, thus feeding into the evaluation of the common fisheries policy regulation. 

The European Commission is organising an online event to present the study and gather feedback from stakeholders. Join us on 8 July from 14:00 to 16:30 (Brussels time). 

More information

Study supporting the evaluation of the landing obligation – common fisheries policy

Discarding in fisheries

Details

Publication date
16 June 2025
Author
Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries