Landing obligation challenges

The document highlights widespread non-compliance with the landing obligation (LO) in the EU and UK, noting that illegal discarding remains 'prolific' and undermines stock assessments. It argues that setting Total Allowable Catches (TACs) based on catch advice while illegal discarding continues allows for unsustainable fishing levels. To remedy this, the authors recommend the swift roll-out of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM), setting TACs lower than ICES maximum catch advice in the absence of robust controls, and making quota 'top-ups' conditional on demonstrated vessel compliance. The briefing also suggests using precautionary multipliers in catch accounting to incentivise selectivity and promoting quota redistribution to avoid raising overall TACs.

• Despite the landing obligation (LO) being fully in force since 2019, non-compliance is widespread and illegal discarding remains a significant issue, which prevents accurate knowledge of fish stock states.
• Setting Total Allowable Catches (TACs) based on catch advice while illegal discarding persists can lead to unsustainable fishing levels that exceed scientific advice.
• The authors recommend that the EU and UK implement Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) with cameras to ensure full catch documentation and support compliance with management measures.
• In the absence of comprehensive monitoring, the briefing recommends setting TACs lower than the ICES maximum catch advice and avoiding quota 'top-ups' unless they are conditional on demonstrated vessel compliance.
• The document suggests a catch accounting approach using multipliers to penalise less selective vessels with higher discard rates, provided these multipliers are set precautionary where data is uncertain.
• To prevent the increase of overall TACs when some vessels run out of quota while others have excess, the briefing advocates for quota redistribution solutions beyond traditional swaps.

APA

ClientEarth (2025). Landing obligation challenges. https://www.clientearth.org/media/hoii4p0x/joint-briefing-series-recommendations-on-fishing-opportunities-briefing-8-landing-obligation-challenges.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Landing obligation challenges. 2025. https://www.clientearth.org/media/hoii4p0x/joint-briefing-series-recommendations-on-fishing-opportunities-briefing-8-landing-obligation-challenges.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Landing obligation challenges |date=July 2025 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/hoii4p0x/joint-briefing-series-recommendations-on-fishing-opportunities-briefing-8-landing-obligation-challenges.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2025landing, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Landing obligation challenges}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/hoii4p0x/joint-briefing-series-recommendations-on-fishing-opportunities-briefing-8-landing-obligation-challenges.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }