European Ocean Pact: the European Commission’s gift to the fishing lobbies

05 June 2025

Just a few days before the Third United Nations Conference on the Oceans (UNOC) is due to take place in Europe, the European Commission published on Thursday June 5 its long-awaited “European Ocean Pact”, a document that was supposed to mark a decisive turning point for the protection of Europe’s waters and maritime policy. Far from meeting citizens’ expectations and scientific recommendations, the European Commission has just given the industrial fishing lobby a gift that constitutes a real disaster for marine biodiversity, the climate and the future of European fishing.   

The European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, is thus methodically destroying the work begun by his predecessor, European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, who in February 2023 succeeded in outlining a new horizon for European fisheries with his “Marine Action Plan”.  

Initially scheduled to be presented on June 4 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the “European Ocean Pact” was finally unveiled a day late by European Commissioner for fisheries and oceans Costas Kadis. This change of agenda alone reveals the European Commission’s lack of interest and ambition on this crucial issue. 

A working draft was leaked by the Commission a few weeks ago, suggesting that the Pact would be a mere empty shell, reiterating existing objectives one by one, without the slightest legislative innovation or political courage. Such was the emptiness of this text that the two former Commissioners who preceded Costas Kadis on ocean and fisheries issues, Maria Damanaki and Virginijus Sinkevičius, publicly called on June 2 on the Commission to show some ambition, including “ binding rules to ban bottom trawling in MPAs, with clear deadlines and real consequences for non-compliance“, fearing that the Commissioner would turn his back on their work, public opinion and scientists. 

But reading the official document published on Thursday June 5, it’s a cold shower: from an empty shell, we’ve moved on to the Commission’s capitulation to the industrial fishing lobby. From the “modernization of the fisheries fleet” to the simple and ineffective “ vademecum presenting best practices the Member States could use in the allocation of fishing opportunities “, everything is covered. But the worst is yet to come: while the European Commission’s “Marine Action Plan” of February 2023 called for a ban on bottom trawling in all marine protected areas by 2030, the European Commission is now backing, in the wake of the French government, a “case-by-case” strategy for where and when to ban trawling in European marine protected areas.  

This “European Ocean Pact”, which was supposed to guarantee a sustainable future for Europe’s waters, has turned into a major obstacle. At a time when our oceans are under unprecedented pressure – overfishing, pollution, acidification – the European Commission is going backwards, unravelling the work of its predecessors and strengthening the grip of the industrial lobby on European public policy.  

Unprecedented setbacks for the protection of the marine environment

Despite repeated calls from the international scientific community, the document overlooks the need to put an end to destructive fishing techniques. Trawling is not mentioned once in 27 pages, despite the fact that bottom and pelagic trawlers are one of the main causes of destruction of marine ecosystems. 

Worse still, as far as the protection of marine habitats is concerned, the Pact not only confines itself to reiterating existing objectives for the protection and restoration of marine habitats, without proposing any concrete strategies for achieving them, but also emphases that the objective of protecting 30% of the marine environment adopted in the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which is now an international objective enshrined in the Kunming-Montreal Agreement, is merely a non-binding (“aspirational”) target. The same verdict applies to the “Marine Action Plan” published by the European Commission two years ago, which called for a ban on bottom trawling in European protected areas by 2030: non-binding (“aspirational”). 

The failure is total. On March 1, 2023, DG ENVI reminded members of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee that the ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas was based on existing European law, and that bottom trawling in Natura 2000 areas designated for habitat protection was… illegal. 

But, under the sway of the trawl lobby, European Commissioner Costas Kadis is now promising, in direct opposition to the Commission’s statements, a “case-by-case” strategy to “ which fishing techniques are compatible with the conservation of the targeted species and habitats in the MPAs concerned”. All this a few lines after explaining that the marine protection policy he was defending was based on “ a precautionary principle; a science-based approach to policy decisions; and an ecosystems-based approach “.  

This case-by-case approach, advocated by the trawl lobby, is disastrous: it gives trawlers a blank check to continue operating in so-called “protected” areas, as long as their impact on biodiversity is considered “acceptable”. This is despite the fact that less than 12% of European waters are currently classified as “protected”, and only 1% as “strictly protected”. The inclusion of the “case-by-case” strategy in the document that is to define the guidelines of European maritime policy for the coming years sounds like the final nail in the coffin of genuine, effective protection of our waters. 

In other words, with this Pact, European Commissioner Costas Kadis is rejecting both the targets (“30% of marine protected areas, one third of which under strict protection”) and the implementation methods (“a ban on bottom trawling in all European marine protected areas by 2030”) set by Ursula von der Leyen’s first Commission. 

In addition, this “case-by-case” strategy is also in total contradiction with the European Commission’s stated objective of administrative and legislative simplification. Indeed, whereas the February 2023 “Marine Action Plan” set out a straightforward ban, based on international scientific recommendations and the IUCN framework, the “case-by-case” approach will, according to Commissioner Kadis himself, require the development of protected area management plans on a protected area-by-protected area basis, necessitating impact studies for thousands of protected areas across Europe to determine one by one the areas in which trawling and other activities will be banned. A veritable administrative monster placed in the hands of the national authorities responsible for drawing up these plans. Without even mentioning efficiency, the criterion of simplification called for the implementation of a ban on trawling in all European marine protected areas. Everything has been done to please the trawl lobby. Absolutely everything. 

A staunch defense of the status quo

In the working document leaked last May, the Commission proposed extending the EU Emissions Trading System, which obliges polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions, to the fishing industry, which currently benefits from a derogation. In the official version published today, this proposal has disappeared. 

And the Commission’s gifts to the fishing lobbies don’t stop there.  

We can find no references to the social and ecological transition of the fishing industry. Not a single mention of the urgent need to make the transition to techniques that have less impact on the environment, or of any initiative to force governments to promote small-scale fishing, which is more efficient in terms of job creation, added value and respect for the marine environment.  

The only transition mentioned is the renewal of the fleet and modernization of engines in order to initiate the sector’s energy transition. Once again, this is a demand repeated for years by the industrial fishing lobbies in order to guarantee the renewal of their boats at EU expense, without changing the fishing practices used. But whether trawlers are equipped with diesel engines, electric engines or hydrogen fuel cells, a trawl is still a trawl, which will continue to plough up the seabed, massively devastate biodiversity, be extremely energy-intensive and undermine small-scale fishing communities. 

The question of social justice is also brushed aside. In France, for example, vessels over 25 meters in length, which represent less than 4% of the fleet, account for 50% of landings, having managed to get their hands on quotas via a distribution key based on fishing history and a phenomenon of concentration in the sector through the takeover of small fishing companies. For years, artisanal fishermen and associations have been fighting for transparency in quota allocation, and for member states to distribute quotas on the basis of the social and environmental performance of their fleets, in accordance with article 17 of the CFP. But far from getting to the root of the problem and announcing the adoption of stricter European standards on the implementation of this article 17, the Pact confines itself to “ consider the establishment of a dedicated Advisory Council ” and “ a vademecum presenting best practices the Member States could use in the allocation of fishing opportunities in order to improve transparency, and promote sustainable fishing, and a dedicated implementation dialogue. “. Couldn’t be less ambitious and binding. 

Fragmented financing

Furthermore, the final version of the text confirms a crucial problem that had become apparent on reading the working document leaked a few weeks ago: the Pact renounces the creation of a centralized “Blue Fund” to finance the ecological and social transition of Europe’s maritime economy. Sources of funding will continue to be spread across a range of European instruments, with the risk of diluting the financial effort and compromising coherence and coordination between Europe’s various public policies, despite the Pact’s aim of ensuring greater harmonization of European maritime policies. 

Citizen mobilization is essential

As it stands, this “European Ocean Pact” is a major defeat for the industrial lobbies, and confirms that after the Omnibus package and the threats to the Green Deal, all the environmental advances of the previous mandate are being called into question under pressure from industry.  

The future of marine life and coastal communities is at stake, and the Commission is merely echoing the demands of industrial lobbies. Next Monday, in Nice, it is hard to imagine how Commission President Ursula von der Leyen can claim to embody any form of leadership, when the European Union represents the world’s leading maritime power… 

Note: This press release is based on an analysis of the official document published by the European Commission on June 5, 2025, as well as on working versions circulated prior to its publication. 

© European Union 2016 – Source : EP