What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

91. Emphasises that, under Article 17, when allocating the fishing opportunities available to their fleet, Member States are to use transparent and objective criteria, including those of an environmental, social and economic nature; stresses that it is up to the Member States to determine the criteria they use when allocating fishing opportunities;

92. Welcomes the fact that the current allocation methods based largely on historical rights allow for a certain level of economic stability in the fishing sector, which can be a condition enabling operators to innovate and adopt more sustainable techniques;

93. Stresses that an easily accessible system of fishing opportunities along with transparent criteria for its allocation and transparency on its practical application allows for better scrutiny, a level playing field, equal opportunities for all interested parties and more predictability, stability and legal certainty for fishers;

94. Deplores the lack of transparency regarding the distribution of fishing opportunities in certain Member States and calls for the criteria to be made public, in line with the applicable data protection legislation;

95. Considers that the allocation methods should be developed and applied with the involvement of fishing communities, regional authorities and other relevant stakeholders, making sure all fleet segments, producers’ organisations (POs) and workers’ organisations are fairly represented, based on the best available scientific advice, and that they should include safeguards such as notice periods to allow fishers to adapt in case Member States decide to change their allocation method;

96. Urges the Council to take into account the specificities and needs of each fleet segment, including the small-scale segment, when allocating fishing opportunities;

97. Recalls the role of Article 17 of the CFP as a tool to provide incentives for low-impact and small-scale fisheries and that it is for Member States to make use of the possibilities offered by it, such as incentives to use more selective fishing gear or use fishing techniques with reduced energy consumption or habitat impact;

98. Notes that the Commission will initiate discussions among Member States and stakeholders with a view to preparing a vade mecum on the allocation of fishing opportunities in order to improve transparency, promote sustainable fishing practices across the EU, and support small scale and coastal fisheries;

Producers’ organisations and guilds

99. Underlines the role of POs in promoting sustainability, in contributing to the availability of food supply and in enhancing growth and employment in the fishing and aquaculture sectors through, inter alia:

– the management and implementation of collective actions;

– the linking of producers, first buyers and consumers in the supply chain,

– the promotion of viable and sustainable fishing products to consumers by participating in certification schemes;

– the promotion of compliance with fishing regulation, supporting traceability and enhancing transparency and data quality in catch declarations so as to combat IUU fishing;

– the distribution and management, in some Member States, of fishing quotas;

100. Further notes that, in many Member States, relatively few small-scale fishers belong to POs, and even fewer small-scale fishers have their own dedicated POs, limiting their capacity to benefit from this channel to access fishing quotas; encourages, therefore, the Commission and the Member States to facilitate and encourage the creation of POs for and by small-scale fishers;

101. Stresses that fishers’ associations such as guilds, pursuing the main objectives of a PO under the Common Markets Organisation, should be eligible to receive financial aid on an equal footing with currently recognised POs; insists, in this regard, that the Member States concerned, the Commission and guilds should, in concert, consider relevant options and solutions;

Generational renewal and role of women

102. Points out that CFP standards are among the highest worldwide and make an important contribution to environmental, economic and social sustainability and that, although there is still much room for improvement, progress made in recent decades shows what can be done to further contribute, on the one hand, to the sustainability of fish stocks and habitats and, on the other, to increase the earnings of fishers and ship owners; highlights that promoting high standards in terms of the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the fisheries sector is, among other factors, key to attracting a new generation of fishers and to providing long-term economic stability for the sector;

103. Notes that the protection of the environment is a growing concern for Europeans, in particular younger generations; stresses the importance of sustainable management of fisheries to attract young fishers; calls, in this regard, for the promotion of low-impact fishing;

104. Further calls on the Commission to ensure that part of the financial contributions under the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements is also allocated, where possible, to the better integration of young people and women in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, to the restoration of the marine environment and to the improvement of knowledge about the state of the climate and the marine environment;

105. Stresses the need to attract young people not only to sea fishing activities, but also to fishing enterprise management and aquaculture, so as to ensure generational renewal across the entire aquatic food sector;

106. Highlights that generational renewal is important to counter the demographic challenges facing coastal and surrounding rural areas, in particular, and will contribute to preserving their cultural heritage;

107. Welcomes the fact that the 2021-2027 EMFAF provides assistance and support for young fishers making their first purchase of a vessel or fishing enterprise; calls in this regard on the Commission and Member States to promote generational renewal by supporting people who want to start a career in the fisheries sector and removing obstacles, such as addressing the high cost of starting a business, income instability, gender inequality and the lack of career stability;

108. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to provide with new measures, as well as on the sector to take measures, that will stimulate the inclusion of young people and women at all levels of the sector and better promote generational renewal, in particular by making all jobs in the fishing and aquaculture value chain more attractive, safer and better paid;

109. Stresses the importance of ensuring proper information and training, especially for young people, to ensure knowledge sharing in particular in relation to the contribution of fisheries to sustainability issues; believes this to be important in order to guarantee both their personal situation, contributing to improving their income, and by extension the cohesion of their local communities, especially in the most isolated coastal regions, with fewer job opportunities;

110. Underlines that generational renewal must take into account the objectives of the European Green Deal and the need to ensure digital transition also in a sustainable blue economy; considers, however, that generational renewal must not lead to a clash between generations and should include fishers of all ages, ensuring balance in the ecological and digital transition in order to ensure that the legacy of experience is not lost; further calls for enhanced mobility and employment opportunities throughout the EU, without difficulties or restrictions regarding recognition of fishers skills and training;

111. Recognises the important role of women in the logistical and administrative support for fishing vessels as well as in the marketing and processing of fish; highlights, however, that this role is often overlooked or barely visible, in particular as fishers or vessel masters as well as their role in science;

112. Calls, therefore, on the Commission to launch initiatives to acknowledge women’s work in fisheries and to enhance the visibility of their role, both by favouring their incorporation in its various areas, and by supporting a better representation of women in all representative organisations and entities, and to secure equal payment between genders;

113. Recalls that the Gender Equality Strategy for 2020-2025 requires that the relevant EU funds support actions, such as EMFAF, to promote women’s work-life balance and participation in the labour market, promote investments in care facilities, support female entrepreneurship, and combat gender segregation;

114. Calls on the Commission and Member States to endeavour to ensure that every programme and actions aimed at attracting young people to the fishing sector carried out under the CFP must contribute to achieving gender equality;

External dimension of the CFP and oceans’ governance

115. Calls on the Commission to invest more effort in promoting the CFP as a policy model for ocean governance, by using the EU’s position in RFMOs, free trade agreements and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements, and more generally in international forums; stresses that this will be essential to ensure fair competition for EU operators and to defend the interests of the EU’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors at a global level;

116. Calls on the Commission to monitor the distribution of the EU’s financial contributions, ensuring that these are allocated to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors;

117. Calls for the role of RFMOs to be strengthened and calls on the Commission to propose a general framework for the negotiating mandates for participation in these organisations; further calls on the Commission to ensure Parliament’s involvement at the earliest stages of the drafting of measures and recommendations for adoption within RFMOs, in a manner that does not undermine the EU’s negotiating position;

118. Considers that there should be no ocean area and relevant fisheries resource that is not covered by the relevant RFMO; calls on the Commission to promote the creation of new RFMOs, where necessary, as well as the adaptation of existing ones, in international forums, to improve the protection of fish stocks and the sustainable management of fishery resources and to defend the sustainable activities of the fleets operating in these areas;

119. Points out that SFPAs with non-EU countries provide mutual benefits both to the EU and to partner countries; underlines that recent SFPAs include human rights clauses and integrate the needs of local populations;

120. Considers it imperative that the Commission fully respects all aspects of international law when engaging in the external dimension of the CFP;

121. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the CFP objectives are fully integrated into the EU position in all international environmental forums, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) or Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), where questions relating to marine biological resources are discussed;

Imports and trade and Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing

122. Considers that imported aquatic food products must be subject to rigorous monitoring and certification procedures, to ensure they come from sustainable fisheries, and to high health, environmental and social standards, that are as strict as those applied to EU products; is of the view that this should be required by means of specific clauses in the new trade agreements negotiated by the EU;

123. Points out that the traceability system for fresh, frozen and processed aquatic food products imported into the Union, including for tuna loins imported under the autonomous tariff quotas’ (ATQs) regime, is essential, in order to meet consumers' expectations through information with a view to improving food safety and allowing checks on third-country imports, alongside measures to fight against IUU fishing; calls for a more harmonised approach in the EU in relation to the implementation of IUU-related EU-legislation;

124. Recalls that the EU is the largest and most attractive import market for seafood and aquaculture products; calls for this position of commercial strength to be leveraged to protect the interests of EU consumers in promoting high standards and of the EU sectors, to prevent its partners from reneging on agreements or commitments and to foster a level playing field at international level, in particular on social, economic and environmental standards;

125. Welcomes the fact that the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement incorporates a direct link between trade and fisheries provisions; calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that fisheries negotiations with the UK as well as with other coastal states in the North-East Atlantic are also linked to issues pertaining to trade and access to the EU single market;

126. Underlines the importance of the EU’s zero-tolerance policy regarding IUU fishing, in the light of it still being an occurrence on the international level including examples ranging from a lack of transparency on illegal fishing operations to modern slavery, as in the case of some Chinese vessels, and regrets that unauthorised seafood continues to be sold on a number of EU markets;

127. Points out that the Commission and the Member States must redouble their efforts to tackle IUU fishing and ensure that seafood consumption in the EU does not contribute to it;

128. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the EFCA's role to fight IUU fishing;

129. Calls for all free trade agreements with third countries to include a section on tackling IUU fishing;

Outermost regions

130. Considers that some aspects of the CFP do not sufficiently address the specific needs of the outermost regions; calls on the Commission and the concerned Member States to address this situation on the basis of Article 349 TFEU and through a regionalised approach, as enshrined in the CFP, and, where necessary, to make the adjustments needed;

131. Points to the specific features of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the outermost regions; calls on the Commission to propose a programme of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity (POSEI) for fisheries and aquaculture, similar to that of agriculture;

132. Stresses that EU and national support for the renewal of artisanal fleets is of vital importance for these regions; calls on the Commission, in particular, to adapt its guidelines for the analysis of the balance between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities (COM(2014)0545) to the characteristics of the outermost regions;

133. Underlines the importance of carrying out robust studies to assess the marine biological resources in all Union waters and, in particular, in the outermost regions;

134. Insists on the need to support selective fishing methods, such as anchored fish aggregating devices used by artisanal fleets in the ORs, provided that such devices contribute to sustainable and selective fishing;

135. Stresses the need to provide the necessary resources to improve scientific knowledge of the ORs’ exclusive economic zones;

Climate change and other challenges for the future

136. Stresses that climate change mitigation and adaptation are key challenges that are insufficiently tackled by the current CFP;

137. Stresses that the efforts made by the fishing industry to improve the stocks’ sustainability and to commit to keeping them in good condition once a good status is reached will be meaningless if climate change is not addressed;

138. Strongly emphasises the need for scientific research to focus more on the interactions between environmental changes due to climate change and fish stocks, in order to avoid blaming the depletion of stocks solely on the fishing industry;

139. Stresses that fishers and the rest of the seafood chain are not a cause of climate change but rather victims of it;