EU seals North Sea fish deal worth about US$660M
343,000 tonnes of shared North Sea stocks allocated to EU vessels.
EUROPE – The European Union has reached a fisheries agreement with Norway and the United Kingdom for the management of shared North Sea stocks in 2026.
The agreement assigned 343,000 tonnes of cod, haddock, saithe, whiting, plaice, and herring to EU vessels with an estimated value of roughly 660 million US$660 million.
Herring strategy and access arrangements
The three parties adopted a new management approach for North Sea herring that sets out a long term strategy together with a package of measures aimed at keeping the fishery sustainable across the North Sea and the Skagerrak Kattegat waters.
In connection with this strategy the EU secured a further ten years of access for its Skagerrak herring fleet to operate in UK waters, a concession that is expected to contribute to efforts to rebuild the severely diminished Western Baltic herring stock.
Measures for depleted stocks
The agreement also contains a series of remedial actions intended to help the Northern shelf cod stock recover to sustainable levels, including additional seasonal closures and an expansion of real time closures to limit fishing in areas where young cod are detected.
All total allowable catches for 2026 were set according to the maximum sustainable yield threshold, which is the highest level at which stocks can be harvested without undermining their ability to regenerate.
The EU, Norway and the United Kingdom also committed to continue joint work on monitoring, control and surveillance to improve compliance and ensure each fleet operates under comparable rules.
Officials from the three partners said these cooperative control arrangements remain important for keeping shared fisheries transparent and for reducing conflict over effort and access.
The agreed quotas will now be written into the 2026 Fishing Opportunities Regulation, the annual legal instrument that sets catch limits for EU fleets.
The Council of EU fisheries ministers is expected to seek political agreement on the regulation during its meeting scheduled for 11 and 12 December 2025, allowing the new quota system and management measures to take effect at the start of the new fishing year.
Sign up HERE to receive our email newsletters with the latest news and insights from Africa and around the world, and follow us on our WhatsApp channel for updates.
