In the coming days, European fisheries ministers will decide on fishing possibilities for 2026 in the Mediterranean. This is not a minor discussion. We are talking about the most overexploited sea on the planetwhere many populations continue to be subject to fishing mortalities well above sustainable levels. In the Western Mediterranean, 55% of assessed demersal stocks are overexploited and fishing mortality is approximately 1.6 times higher than sustainable levels.
In this context, the Multi-year plan for the Western Mediterranean, approved in 2019, has become an essential tool for ending decades of overfishing. The measures applied to trawlers – reduction of fishing days, improvement of selectivity and spatial closures – are producing tangible results. Fishing mortality is decreasing, biomasses are showing signs of recovery and economic indicators are starting to show clear signs of improvement. In the Valencian Community, for example, 2025 data shows a 20% increase in catches and a 40% increase in revenue per fishing day compared to 2019.
These advances are not a coincidence, but the result of a demanding process, supported by public funds, such as the mesh change introduced last year to improve selectivity. Although Certain measures can reduce catches in the short term, allowing larger and more valuable specimens to be captured.strengthening profitability and future sustainability.
Even so, there is still a way to go. The European Commission has a legal obligation to propose measures to achieve the targets agreed by Parliament and member states, including ending overfishing by 2025. The proposed effort reductions may seem drastic when they make the headlines, but they are in the fine print and justified scientifically and legally.
The European Commission has a legal obligation to propose measures to achieve the objectives agreed by Parliament and Member States.
Added to these reductions is a key tool: the compensation mechanismwhich allows vessels to recover fishing days if they adopt voluntary technical measures, such as selectivity improvements or additional closures. This system makes it possible to get closer to the total number of fishing days of 2024, as happened this year in 2025, and to make the transition more gradual, provided that it is applied with rigor and proportionality.
He the debate is not whether trawling in the Mediterranean should change, but how to do it. The status quo is no longer an option. Trawler capacity and available resources are unbalanced and gradual restructuring is required to enable a more resilient sector.
The Council’s decisions must consolidate the progress made and not jeopardize it. We are fully aware of the social difficulties involved in this transition, but Moving towards sustainable fishing is not only a legal obligation: it is the only guarantee for the future for Mediterranean fishing communities.
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