The European Bottom Fishing Alliance (EBFA) welcomes the evaluation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the Commissions intention to revise it in the context of the forthcoming European Ocean Act.
EBFA supports the Commissions objectives for the MSFD revision: effective marine protection, improved coherence and data comparability, and genuine simplification with reduced administrative burden.
For the fishing sector, achieving and maintaining Good Environmental Status must not be a theoretical exercise. Healthy and productive seas underpin fisheries, coastal communities and Europes food supply. Environmental sustainability must therefore be pursued in a way that also safeguards economic viability and social resilience.
EBFA supports maintaining an ambitious but realistic environmental framework, provided it is grounded in robust science and ensures balanced measures across all maritime sectors. It should avoid imposing additional constraints on sectors that are already highly regulated and socio-economically vulnerable. Also, simplification should enhance clarity and coherence, not create fragmented rules or undermine legal certainty.
In this context, EBFA considers that the revision of the MSFD should focus on improving the Directives operability, coherence and legal clarity. In particular, it should:
- Clarify the Concept of Good Environmental Status.
- Ensure legal coherence.
- Adopt a holistic, ecosystem-based approach.
- Safeguard proportionality in Marine Spatial Planning.
- Strengthen governance, simplification and funding EBFA also stresses the need to recognise the significant efforts already undertaken under existing EU policies in particular the CFP and to allow time for adopted measures to produce measurable ecological results before introducing additional constraints.
Ecological recovery processes are often slower than regulatory cycles, and policy credibility depends on the reliable evaluation of existing measures. Finally, the implementation of the MSFD must clearly reflect that conservation and competitiveness are not contradictory objectives, but mutually reinforcing ones.
The conservation of marine ecosystems should be seen as an opportunity for the EU fleet to continue modernising, innovating and improving its environmental performance, not as a way to reduce fishing capacity or access to traditional fishing grounds. Through innovation, improved management and coherent policy integration, the MSFD can strengthen the long-term viability of the fishing sector while ensuring that EU fishers continue to provide healthy, sustainable food to European citizens.
Press contact
Daniel Voces, Secretary of EBFA, info@bottomfishingalliance.eu (+32 489 26 81 07)
