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REPORT (COM(2025)0435 – C100184/2025 – 2025/0246(COD))

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European fisheries and aquaculture statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1921/2006, (EC) No 762/2008, (EC) No 216/2009, (EC) No 217/2009 and (EC) No 218/2009

A-10-2026-0135

Committee on Fisheries · Rapporteur: Sakis Arnaoutoglou

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Parliament's amended version of the Commission proposal for a regulation on European fisheries and aquaculture statistics, replacing five existing legal acts with one framework. It sets up an integrated framework covering fishing, aquaculture, the Union catching fleet and aquaculture establishments, including socio-economic and environmental data. It requires Member States to reuse existing administrative data, allows exemptions for small variables, and requires the Commission to fund national statistical authorities. It adds data on infringements of fisheries legislation, invasive alien species, organic and non-fed production, and energy and water consumption in aquaculture. It raises coverage requirements for catches, landings, the fleet and aquaculture production, and exempts Member States from reporting sensitive species and recreational fisheries data until available.

Committee position. The Committee on Fisheries adopts Parliament's position at first reading with amendments to the Commission proposal, approving its statement. The amendments add socio-economic and environmental data, strengthen reuse of administrative data, raise coverage requirements, delete ad hoc data collection, and require a Union financial contribution.

Key points

  1. The regulation sets up an integrated framework for statistics on fishing, aquaculture, the Union catching fleet and aquaculture establishments, including socio-economic statistics.
  2. Statistics must cover anonymised data on the reporting, investigative and judicial stages of criminal offences under Regulations (EC) No 1224/2009 and (EC) No 1005/2008 and Article 22 of Directive (EU) 2024/1203.
  3. Data must cover aquaculture flows including hatcheries and nurseries, energy and water consumption, and socio-economic and environmental parameters, using existing monitoring systems where possible.
  4. Definitions are added for aquaculture, Union fishing fleet, CITES species, invasive alien species, relay area and roe, and definitions in Regulations (EC) No 1224/2009 and (EU) No 1380/2013 apply.
  5. The Annex sets out detailed topics, transmission frequencies, reference periods and dimensions, including sensitive species, invasive alien species, organic and non-fed production and regional breakdown.
  6. The Commission may exempt a Member State from submitting a variable on request, and must grant an exemption where the variable falls below a threshold set by implementing act.
  7. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts amending the Annex, taking account of administrative burden and cost, and implementing acts specifying technical items including socio-economic and environmental variables.
  8. The ad hoc data collection article is deleted, along with the related delegated power and the financial contribution for ad hoc collections.
  9. Statistics must cover 100% of the Union catching fleet for discards, 95% of natural persons in recreational fisheries, 100% of the weight of landings and the fleet, and 95% of aquaculture production with 100% for species listed in Regulation (EU) 2023/966.
  10. The Commission (Eurostat) must reuse existing databases for catches, landings and the fleet, and Member States may object within six months before the reference year and transmit aggregated datasets instead.
  11. Member States may request corrections to data, and the Commission must ensure consistency, comparability and interoperability of data and calculation methods and disseminate statistics clearly.
  12. Member States must use data from specified sources and may also use national administrative sources, surveys and innovative methods such as remote electronic monitoring; a Union financial contribution shall be provided to national statistical authorities.

Who is affected

  • Member States, which must collect and transmit fisheries and aquaculture statistics and may request exemptions or corrections.
  • National statistical institutes and other national authorities, which receive a Union financial contribution for data collection costs.
  • Small-scale fishers, aquaculture producers and local communities, especially in outermost regions, who should not face undue administrative burden.
  • The Commission (Eurostat), which produces statistics from administrative data and must ensure quality and consistency.

Figures and deadlines

  • 100% of the Union catching fleet, for the weight of discards.
  • 95% of the natural persons engaged in recreational fisheries.
  • 100% of the weight of landings.
  • 100% of the Union catching fleet.
  • 95% of aquaculture production, with 100% of production of species listed in Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/966.
  • Objections to data reuse must be notified no later than 6 months before the start of the reference year.
  • The first quality report is due 12 months from the date of entry into force of the Regulation, then every three years.

Legal basis: Article 294(2) and Article 338(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.