Andalusia is a key region with 115 trawlers and 13 fishing centers

Andalusian Fishermen Accuse Europe of 'Abandoning' Mediterranean Trawling Fleet

SPAIN
Friday, November 07, 2025, 00:10 (GMT + 9)

FAAPE demands the recovery of fishing effort to 160-180 working days and an urgent review of the Multiannual Plan (MAP WestMed) to prevent the sector's collapse.

MADRID – The Andalusian fishing sector has raised its voice against European Union (EU) policy, accusing Brussels of "abandoning the Mediterranean trawling fleet" following a meeting held the day before yesterday in Málaga with officials from the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG Mare) of the European Commission (EC).

José María Gallart, president of the Andalusian Federation of Fishery Associations (FAAPE) and vice-president of Cepesca for the Mediterranean and Gulf of Cádiz, expressed his fear: "This meeting confirmed what we already feared: the DG Mare of the EC has turned its back on Mediterranean trawling."

Key Demands to Brussels

Following the meeting, the Andalusian fishing sector specified eight key demands to the European Commission, focused on rebalancing the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and ensuring social and economic viability:

1. Solid Scientific Basis: The sector demands that decisions be founded on a solid scientific basis. FAAPE criticizes the EC for "legislating with incomplete data and methodologies questioned by its own scientific community," arguing that an entire fleet cannot be "sacrificed based on reports that do not even have technical consensus."

2. Restoring Balance: Brussels is required to restore the lost balance of the CFP between environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

3. Recovering Working Days: Fishermen demand the recovery of fishing effort, returning to an average of 160–180 working days per year, a figure considered essential to maintain activity and the supply of fresh fish. Gallart warns: "The alternative is to condemn fishing communities to definitive closure."

4. Urgent Review of MAP WestMed: They call for the urgent modification of the Multiannual Plan for Demersal Fisheries in the Western Mediterranean (MAP WestMed), imposed since 2020, which has led to reductions in fishing effort. Despite repeated requests from the governments of Spain, Italy, and France, Brussels has not responded. FAAPE asserts that this plan is "devastating the fishing fabric of the Mediterranean," where the Andalusian trawling fleet has gone from 230 days of annual fishing to barely 130.

5. End to Double Control Regime: They ask for the elimination of the double control regime applied to the red shrimp fishery, which combines effort and quota limitations, "suffocating" one of the fisheries considered most selective and sustainable in the Mediterranean.

Foto: FAAPE

Social Impact and Call to the Commissioner

The sector reiterates that trawling is a strategic activity that "guarantees employment, food security, and the stability of our coastal towns," and regrets being treated as "public enemy number one of European fishing policy."

Andalusia is a key region with 115 trawlers and 13 fishing hubs, directly supporting over 17,000 families. Gallart concludes that the disappearance of the fleet, if urgent measures are not taken, will not only be an economic failure but "a moral and political failure for Europe."

FAAPE at the meetings of the Mediterranean Consultative Council (MEDAC). Photo: FAAPE

The fishermen are relying on the intervention of the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, the Cypriot Costas Kadis, for the European Commission to change course and not "let Mediterranean fishing die."

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