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The European Commission has opened a 4-week consultation seeking feedback on possible changes to the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, as it aims to make the EU’s main seafood funding instrument simpler and easier to use.
The call for evidence, launched through the Commission’s Have Your Say portal, is open until 21 July, and invites contributions from EU countries, the fishing and aquaculture sector, seafood processors, importers, retailers, ports, shipbuilders, civil society organisations, researchers and citizens.
The Commission is asking stakeholders to identify where the fund’s current rules may be holding back investment, and how they could be streamlined for the rest of the 2021-2027 programming period.
The European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) supports the Common Fisheries Policy, the EU’s maritime policy and the bloc’s international commitments on ocean governance, and is intended to support investment in fisheries, aquaculture and the wider maritime economy.
However, according to the Commission, the fund’s mid-term evaluation, along with feedback from member states and Advisory Councils, has shown that some rules are "difficult to apply in practice".
Some funding opportunities are also seen as "too rigid" to unlock the investment needed by the sector.
The Commission said it aims to reduce administrative burden and improve the uptake of EMFAF funding, while ensuring the funding mechanism remains in line with the Common Fisheries Policy and its objectives.
The consultation forms part of wider work to assess whether targeted changes are needed to the EMFAF Regulation. Through the new call for evidence, stakeholders are being asked to provide practical examples of where rules are difficult to apply, where funding is not being used effectively, and where changes could help improve implementation.
The Commission is also seeking views on how to make the fund more flexible for the remainder of the current funding period, without weakening the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy.
The consultation also covers changes linked to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which entered into force on 15 September 2025.
The agreement, which the EU ratified in 2023, is the first binding global framework designed to curb subsidies that contribute to overfishing, prohibiting public support for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, fishing of overfished stocks, and fishing on the unregulated high seas.
The European Commission said completing its implementation requires aligning EU law through the EMFAF Regulation, so that EU funding cannot support activities prohibited under the WTO agreement.