New fishing rules approved for key Mediterranean species

The international regulatory authority for fisheries across the Mediterranean and Black seas has concluded its annual summit in Rome. During the sessions, government delegates agreed on comprehensive conservation frameworks for heavily targeted marine creatures, but they postponed decisions on designating new protected habitats despite earlier support from scientific panels.

Convened under the United Nations regional fisheries body known as the GFCM, policymakers approved multi-year harvest programs. These arrangements encompass European hake alongside deep-water rose shrimp inhabiting the Strait of Sicily. Regulators also created oversight rules for giant red shrimp across the Sicilian channel, the Ionian Sea, and eastern Mediterranean waters, marking the initial cross-border invertebrate fishery governed by an agreed harvest protocol. A separate management strategy was accepted for the common dolphinfish.

These long-term plans establish total allowable catch figures and sustainable harvesting thresholds based on scientific monitoring. While roughly half of monitored stocks in the region remain overexploited, regulatory programs have lowered the proportion of overfished populations, dropping from an 87 percent peak in 2013 to 52 percent in 2025. In the near term, the agreements permit modest operational adjustments for fishers, permitting additional days at sea alongside the deployment of passive fishing gear.

Habitat protections delayed

Despite progress on commercial species, members failed to ratify two proposed protected zones. One measure sought to restrict bottom fishing around the Cabliers Coral Mound Province, an active cold-water coral formation between Morocco and Spain that provides essential spawning grounds for threatened wildlife. While technical committees previously endorsed the reserve, Moroccan representatives requested that discussions be delayed until the following year.

Negotiators also stalled on a proposal advanced by Türkiye to prohibit bottom trawling in seafloor zones ranging from 800 to 1,000 meters deep. An established 2005 rule already bans trawling below 1,000 meters to safeguard fragile hydrothermal vents, sponge reefs, and unmapped seamounts. Extending that depth threshold would have shielded an extra 100,000 square kilometers of deep seabed.

Although endorsed by North African and Middle Eastern member states, the trawling ban met resistance from the European Union following internal objections from Italy and Spain. Italian fishery officials argued that Mediterranean-wide scientific data remained inconclusive and cited conflicts with domestic fleet compensation rules. Environmental advocates lamented the postponement, noting that intact deep-sea ecosystems serve as vital reproductive nurseries and climate shelters for regional marine life.