Saving Seafood

EUSeA regrets exclusion of aquatic foods from EU protein agenda Fisheries and Aquaculture Vision 2040 must deliver an EU Blue Foods Action Plan

July 23, 2026 — The following was released by the The European Union Seafood Alliance:

The European Union Seafood Alliance (EUSeA), bringing together EAPO, Europêche, FEAP, Seafood Europe and EMPA, welcomes the European Commission’s renewed focus on protein resilience, strategic autonomy and sustainable food systems, following the publication of the Action Plan for resilience, strategic autonomy and sustainability of the EU protein system and the EU Strategy on Livestock. Together, these initiatives set an important direction for Europe’s food future. They recognize the need to strengthen resilience, reduce strategic dependencies and support more sustainable food production. However, the EU Seafood Alliance stresses that Europe’s protein strategy will remain incomplete if aquatic foods are not recognized.

Aquatic foods are already available, nutritious and high-quality sources of protein. They contribute to healthy diets, coastal communities, responsible production, processing activities, employment, trade, consumer choice and food-system resilience.

Seafood must be part of Europe’s protein conversation. If the EU wants a resilient, sustainable and strategically autonomous protein system, aquatic foods cannot remain at the margins. Fisheries, aquaculture, processing and trade are part of Europe’s food security and competitiveness agenda.

EUSeA underlines that the recent shift in the Commission’s approach towards livestock is particularly noteworthy¹. Whereas livestock was long considered mainly a source of emissions, it is now recognized as a critical element for Europe’s food security. Fisheries and aquaculture deserve the same strategic recognition.

A genuine paradigm shift is needed – one that sees aquatic food production not as part of the problem, but as an essential contributor to food security, coastal resilience, strategic autonomy and the sustainable management of marine resources. These objectives remain crucial, and the EU protein agenda should therefore ensure stronger coherence between the different Commission services.

EUSeA therefore calls once again for an EU Action Plan for Blue Foods to be fully reflected in the forthcoming Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040. This Vision should be ambitious and become the Commission’s main strategic framework for recognizing and strengthening the contribution of aquatic foods to Europe’s food system. It should also ensure that aquatic foods are properly integrated into the wider EU protein and livestock agendas, which explicitly exclude fisheries, aquaculture, and their processing sectors despite being an important source and user of protein in the EU’s food and feed system.

We want to ensure that Europe’s food and protein strategy reflects the full diversity of responsible protein sources available to European consumers. The Alliance highlights the potential of making full and responsible use of aquatic biological resources. EU initiatives² demonstrate how fisheries and aquaculture by-products can be transformed into high-value food ingredients, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, biomaterials, packaging, construction materials, water treatment solutions, soil amendments and bio-based fertilizers. They also illustrate the potential to create new value chains for invasive species and species with limited or no commercial demand.

The EU Seafood Alliance stands ready to work with the European Commission in the preparation of the Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040 and in the implementation of the EU protein and livestock agenda to ensure that Europe’s protein strategy reflects the contribution of all responsible food sectors, including aquatic foods.

Contact EAPO:
Pauline Stephan, Policy Officer

Contact Europêche:
Daniel Voces, Managing Director

Contact FEAP:
Javier Ojeda, General Secretary

Contact Seafood Europe:
Katarina Sipic, Secretary General

Contact the European Mollusc Producers’ Association (EMPA):
Thibault Pivetta, Secretary General

About EAPO, EMPA, Europêche, FEAP and Seafood Europe

EAPO, EMPA, Europêche, FEAP and Seafood Europe represent key parts of the European fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing and trading value chain. Together, they work to promote responsible seafood production and trade, support resilient coastal and food systems, and advocate for policies that strengthen sustainable growth, food security and competitiveness across the European seafood sector.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s marine zone closure proposal outrages fisheries sector

September 28, 2016 — The decision taken by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to close off 30 per cent of all marine areas from extractive activities by 2030 has caused outrage to Europêche and the European body representing producer organisations(EAPO).

The IUCN adopted the measure in its latest Congress held in Hawaii, on September 1-10, during which the entity adopted a series of non-binding commitments to recommend governments and other relevant international bodies such as FAO or the European Union.

According to Europêche, the IUCN takes decisions on fisheries issues whilst disregarding the huge socio-economic impacts that this 30 per cent area closure would have on coastal communities and food security.

“No-take zones (marine reserves) have become, in the eyes of many scientists, NGOs and lay-people, a solution for the overexploitation of fish populations. However, before we close off any area to extractive activities such as fishing we must first ask ourselves what are we protecting and why. MPAs are a tool, not an objective so in order for these closures to be successful, their existence has to be justified,” Javier Garat, President of Europêche, pointed out.

For its part, the fishing sector argues that fisheries is actually one of the most affected sectors by these recommendations, which do not take into account other impacts such as pollution and marine mining industries.

Moreover, those opposing the the decision consider the IUCN’s measure is not based on any broad consensus of the scientific community and disregards the unpleasant fact that a large proportion of MPAs already established are ‘paper parks’ with zero efficiency in meeting their objectives.

On the contrary, some scientists present at the Congress highlighted that there is little proof that the 30 per cent closure would bring about any major benefit to biodiversity and have objected very strongly to the proposal since it goes against efforts made by MPA proponents during the last decade to involve coastal communities in decision-making.

The fishing bodies also believe that any proposal which greatly impacts any economic sector should be accompanied by a thorough impact assessment from an environmental, social, economic and food security perspective, which was not the case in this decision. This would be the only tool which would highlight the consequences of the problems and allows states to decide whether to take action based on accurate, objective, comprehensive and non-discriminatory information.

The fishing sector also highlights that closing off parts of the ocean from extractive use would actually conflict with other the UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as increasing food security and reducing poverty; both of which require the use of the ocean. Closing 30 per cent of all coastal areas would be disastrous in the developing world, where coastal communities have no social safety nets and no unemployment schemes.

Read the full story at Fis.com