No EU aid for fleet renewal or the modernisation of fishing vessels

A coalition of NGOs argues that reintroducing subsidies for fleet renewal and vessel modernisation would increase overcapacity and overfishing, contradicting the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and international commitments like UN SDG 14. The authors contend that capacity ceilings based on tonnage and power are inadequate measures of fishing ability and that engine modernisation is difficult to control due to under-declaration of power. They propose redirecting funds toward crew safety training, research into selective fishing gear, and stock recovery, noting that the majority of small-scale fishers benefit more from recovered stocks than from vessel subsidies.

• Reintroducing subsidies for fleet renewal and vessel construction would violate international commitments, specifically UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, which calls for the elimination of harmful fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing by 2020.
• Current capacity ceilings measured by gross tonnage (GT) and power (kW) are ineffective because technological progress has increased the actual ability to catch fish even as GT/kW figures have decreased.
• Subsidies for engine replacement in small-scale coastal fishing are difficult to regulate because engine power is frequently under-declared through fuel injection adjustments that are easily reversed after certification.
• Historical data from 2000-2006 shows that vessel construction and modernisation subsidies primarily benefited a small segment of the fleet, with only 14% of EU vessels receiving funding, mostly those over 12m in length.
• Prioritising stock recovery over vessel subsidies could generate over €3 billion in extra annual income in the North-East Atlantic fisheries and support more than 100,000 jobs.

APA

ClientEarth (n.d.). No EU aid for fleet renewal or the modernisation of fishing vessels. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zi3pthyd/joint-ngo-letter-to-meps-on-the-reintroduction-of-harmful-subsidies-for-fleet-renewal-and-vessel-modernisation-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. No EU aid for fleet renewal or the modernisation of fishing vessels. n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/zi3pthyd/joint-ngo-letter-to-meps-on-the-reintroduction-of-harmful-subsidies-for-fleet-renewal-and-vessel-modernisation-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=No EU aid for fleet renewal or the modernisation of fishing vessels |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/zi3pthyd/joint-ngo-letter-to-meps-on-the-reintroduction-of-harmful-subsidies-for-fleet-renewal-and-vessel-modernisation-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearthndaid, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{No EU aid for fleet renewal or the modernisation of fishing vessels}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/zi3pthyd/joint-ngo-letter-to-meps-on-the-reintroduction-of-harmful-subsidies-for-fleet-renewal-and-vessel-modernisation-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }