“The people who bring seafood to our tables deserve our full support when a crisis beyond their control threatens their livelihoods," said Fisheries Commissioner Costas Kadis.
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The European Commission has activated an emergency funding mechanism to help fisheries and aquaculture businesses affected by the economic fallout from the crisis in the Middle East.
EU countries will be able to use money already available through the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) to compensate fishers, aquaculture producers, processors and retailers whose operations have been disrupted. The measure applies retroactively from 28 February 2026 and covers eligible expenditure until the end of this year.
The Commission said the conflict has pushed up energy and raw material prices, raising costs for a sector already vulnerable to fuel shocks.
"Part of the Union's fishing fleet has already ceased operations due to reduced profitability. The aquaculture and processing sectors are similarly affected," the Commission said in its announcement.
The support will come from each Member State’s existing EMFAF allocation under its 2021-2027 national programme, with the EU co-financing part of the spending. National governments will decide whether to offer the support and will be responsible for distributing any compensation.
The Commission said about €760m ($810m) remains immediately available from the €1.3bn originally set aside under the emergency measures in the current EMFAF programme.
In practice, the Commission said, the mechanism will allow governments to compensate operators for income lost and extra costs caused by the market disruption, including higher energy bills. It will also enable storage aid for fishery producer organisations using the market storage mechanism, under which products can be held back temporarily in an attempt to stabilise prices.
The EMFAF measure will soon be followed by further help through state aid, with the Commission stating it is consulting Member States on a temporary framework aimed at sectors seen as particularly exposed to the crisis, including parts of the fisheries supply chain such as landings, handling and initial processing. It said it aimed to adopt this framework by the end of April.
The Commission also used the announcement to argue that the crisis underlined the sector’s dependence on fossil fuels, saying the shift to lower-energy and lower-emission operations remained important to its long-term resilience and profitability.
Costas Kadis, the commissioner for fisheries and oceans, said: “The people who bring seafood to our tables deserve our full support when a crisis beyond their control threatens their livelihoods. I am talking about fishers facing uncertainty at sea, aquaculture producers managing thin margins, and fishmongers keeping coastal communities alive. Today’s decision ensures that they do not face this situation alone. The European Union stands with them.”
A similar crisis mechanism was activated in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
