EU Parliament and Council Reach Provisional Agreement on New Framework for Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics

On 12 November 2026, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on a new framework for the collection and use of EU fisheries and aquaculture statistics. The agreement was made public on 13 November and largely follows the proposal previously put forward by the European Commission.

According to the disclosure, the agreement includes the establishment of a fisheries and aquaculture data portal operated by Eurostat (the Statistical Office of the European Union), allows Member States to obtain exemptions from certain data submission obligations, and permits simplified or aggregated data reporting under specific circumstances.

The legislative process for this new framework began in July 2025, when the European Commission proposed simplifying the EU fisheries statistics system, replacing five separate regulations that previously governed EU catch data, landings, the fishing fleet and aquaculture production statistics with a single, streamlined framework. One of the goals of the new rules is to reduce duplicate reporting and ensure that EU statistics are comparable with international statistics.

In a statement, Thomas Byrne, Ireland's Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, said that reliable, high-quality data are the foundation of good fisheries management and a thriving aquaculture sector, and that the agreement reached that day would give the EU a modern framework that makes better use of existing information, strengthens the evidence base for policy, and makes data collection more efficient and less burdensome for Member States and operators.

The provisional agreement still requires separate approval by the Council and the European Parliament before it can be formally adopted.