October 22, 2026 — In the North Sea, commercial pelagic trawlers and seals both forage for some of the same fish stocks, creating a dynamic that can pose operational, regulatory, and conservation challenges.
To mitigate the issue, fishing industry groups have teamed up with fishing gear firms to develop and adapt excluder devices, aiming to reduce seal captures in the region’s sandeel and herring fisheries, as well as bycatch of other species.
October 21, 2026 — The European Commission has released Vision 2040 – a 15-year strategy for the E.U. fisheries and aquaculture sector that sets out plans to improve competitiveness, strengthen food security, and safeguard the natural resources on which the industry depends.
Vision 2040, presented on 20 October, is built around strengthening both the supply of and demand for E.U.-produced aquatic food and spans the bloc’s entire aquatic food value chain, seeking to provide businesses with greater predictability for investment and growth.
October 15, 2026 — Northeast Atlantic coastal nations have once again agreed to abide by International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) scientific advice on the blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring quotas but have yet to reach a quota-sharing agreement.
ICES released its advice on multiple Northeast Atlantic pelagic species in early October, bumping up the blue whiting advice for 2027 to 1,064,191 metric tons (MT), up from the 851,344 MT it advised in 2026; herring was increased to 588,004 MT, up 10 percent over its advice for the prior year. Coastal states including Norway, the E.U., the U.K., the Faroe Islands, and Iceland then met in London and agreed that those numbers should be the unilateral quota for 2027.
October 15, 2026 — Seabird protections drew debate at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), held Oct. 5-8 in Brussels. The eight-member multilateral body that manages the stock has long struggled to curb seabird deaths caused by longline fishing targeting southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) across several oceans.
This year’s meeting saw a modicum of progress on the issue. Based on recent modeling, the parties agreed on 13 priority seabird species for conservation efforts and designated high-risk areas for them. However, the designations don’t carry any new mandatory protections: Due to the reluctance of some members, the commission stopped short of adopting proposed conservation measures for the high-risk areas, most notably tighter seabird bycatch mitigation requirements.
Oliver Yates, head of the marine program at BirdLife International, a U.K.-based NGO, told Mongabay that the identification of high-risk areas was “a good step forward” but said it was a problem that “they’ve not then adopted any management action to accompany the fishing activity in those spatial areas.”
“[T]hey recognise bycatch of seabirds is a very serious issue but again agreed to do nothing about it,” Yates, who attended the Brussels meeting, added in a text message.
October 14, 2026 — Global squid industry leaders are calling for stronger international fisheries management, improved scientific cooperation, and greater traceability as fishing activity and market demand continue to grow.
Representatives from fishing fleets, seafood processors, and regional advisory groups discussed the future of global squid fisheries during a panel at CONXEMAR 2026 in Vigo, Spain, highlighting gaps in stock assessments, international governance, and efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
Squid fisheries supply major international seafood markets and processing industries, particularly in Europe, but many operate across national boundaries and international waters, complicating management and enforcement.
Panelists pointed to uncontrolled fishing effort near exclusive economic zones, limited scientific data, and inconsistent oversight as challenges facing the sector.
Much of the discussion centered on the South Pacific jumbo flying squid fishery, where the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) has been working to improve scientific assessments. At a recent scientific meeting, however, member countries stopped short of completing a full stock-assessment framework or establishing hard catch limits for the fishery.
October 9, 2026 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
Representatives from fishing fleets, regional advisory councils and processing industries gathered at CONXEMAR 2026 this week to highlight opportunities for stronger coordination and engagement among industry players to ensure the long-term sustainability of squid resources. During a panel at the international trade fair, participants highlighted the need for stronger coordination across international waters, enhanced scientific cooperation and compliance with new destination-market regulations – and emphasized the important role that industry can, and must, play in advancing these efforts.
Global squid fisheries are vital resources for international markets and processing industries, particularly in Europe. However, they face challenges related to ocean governance; a lack of stock assessments; illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and uncontrolled fishing effort in areas adjacent to Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Because all actors across the squid value chain are interconnected, progress in governance, science, traceability and market regulations are all critical to ensuring sustainable squid production and trade.
In recent months, the international debate, focused on finding solutions and space for collaboration, has reached important milestones, with implications for the international commercialization of squid products derived from these fisheries. However, at the recent South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) scientific meeting, member states stopped short of finalizing a complete stock-assessment framework or hard catch limits for the jumbo flying squid fishery.
In response, Alfonso Miranda, president of CALAMASUR, said “In the South Pacific, advancing the scientific foundation for jumbo flying squid management remains a priority. While SPRFMO has worked to improve stock evaluation models, closing the data gap requires unified international commitment. Coastal states, flag states and market states must work side by side to ensure management decisions keep pace with fishing activity and market expectations.”
Focus on European industry engagement in southern squid fisheries
To help ensure industry input, Conxemar (the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Exporters and Manufacturers of Fish and Aquaculture Products) has joined the SPRFMO as an observer. Luis Garcia, sustainability manager at Conxemar, emphasized that markets must be part of the conversation and that strengthening science based management is essential for the future sustainability of the jumbo flying squid and trade. Without a fleet in the South Pacific, the commodity is key for the European and Spanish processing sector; thus Europe must take action in support of strong conservation measures.
Alexandre Rodriguez, executive secretary and general director of the Long Distance Advisory Council echoed this sentiment, noting that this “global fishery has grown immensely, but its governance framework has failed to keep pace. The Long Distance Advisory Council calls for a level playing field for all products entering the EU market, backed by risk-based import controls, stronger enforcement of existing rules—such as CATCH / IT catch tools—and full transparency throughout the entire value chain.”
Robust science-based management is equally critical for the southern Atlantic Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) squid fishery. A recent scientific workshop in Vigo highlighted the role of the Spanish fleet and international partners in collecting data and sharing historical series as indispensable for building a trustworthy regional stock assessment. Representatives attending the workshop agreed to create a common database to help define a regional stock assessment.
Concluding the Conxemar 2026 panel, David Comesaña, chair of SFP’s Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable and purchasing director at Congalsa Corporation, called for individual and collective industry action: “Seafood companies invest in and implement tools to ensure legality, but industry action alone is not enough. Administrations must play their essential role in supporting monitoring, control, and compliance through robust import controls, alongside a shared commitment to scientific cooperation and transparency across every step of the supply chain.” His words reflected the content of the Public Statement on Science-based Management, recently signed by participants of the Global Squid SR.
Coming out of these international events, and looking forward to upcoming meetings and opportunities for progress, the panel participants proposed three key priorities for the squid sector over the next 1-2 years:
Strengthening regional fisheries management by accelerating data sharing and developing scientific assessment models through SPRFMO and in FAO Area 41
Enhancing pre-competitive collaboration by promoting ongoing dialogue between producing fleets, coastal states and importing markets to align sustainability standards.
Carmen González-Vallés, SFP Supply Chain Roundtables director, noted “The panel at Conxemar, and other recent progress in the global squid sector, has highlighted the common willingness among industry actors to cooperate on ensuring the long-term sustainability of squid resources. I hope that these discussions can continue in the future to foster robust collaboration between stakeholders.”
August 17, 2026 — A study conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia has found that industrial-scale illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for as much as 15 percent of global marine wild capture and is estimated to be worth between USD 6.2 billion and USD 12.2 billion (EUR 5.4 billion and EUR 10.5 billion).
The study, titled “Casting light on the workings of illegal fishing markets,” found that roughly two-thirds of illicit seafood trade by value originates in West Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, with the bulk of the illegal catch consumed in North America, Europe, and East Asia.
March 20, 2026 — Canada-based seafood giant Cooke is set to take operational control of Greece-based seafood firm Avramar Greece after signing a memorandum of understanding to take on the company’s debts.
Avramar Greece was first separated from Spain-based Avramar Seafood due to financial issues with the Greek business, which began pursuing a sale in 2023. Multiple bidders emerged to purchase the company, which has become a major player in Mediterranean aquaculture producing sea bass and sea bream. According to Cooke, Avramar Greece “is a vertically integrated operation, which includes hatcheries, marine farm sites, processing and packaging facilities, and feed production operations.”
August 11, 2025 — When Ken Bagley led a convoy of fishing boats into battle against the UK’s first wind developers two decades ago, his hope was to save something of the fishing industry that had supported his family since the 1890s.
Bagley’s convoy sailed in front of the barges attempting to install the first turbines in the rich fishing grounds off Skegness, halting work and infuriating the contractors trying to kick-start Britain’s entry into the world of green energy.
“They were installing that turbine into one of the richest mussel beds in the region, so I led 22 boats into the construction area and halted the work. We thought it was a great victory back then,” recalls Bagley, who is chairman of the Boston Fishermen’s Association.
March 11, 2025 — High demand for eel combined with a decline in stock have resulted in soaring prices for this food item, which, in many cultures, is considered a delicacy. This has fueled concern globally as the prized food item is now being illegally traded from Europe to Asia.
Current research has focused on the critically endangered Anguilla anguilla, commonly known as the European eel. While its export outside the European Union is tightly regulated, large quantities of A. anguilla juveniles continue to be smuggled out of the EU to Asia where they are grown in eel farms until reaching a marketable size.
To investigate the prevalence and consumption of endangered eels—particularly the European eel—a Yale-NUS College research team examined 327 individual eel products purchased across 86 retailers throughout Singapore. However, instead of the prevalence of the European eel, the team identified 70% of another species in the sample—Anguilla rostrata, commonly known as the American eel.