European Union and the United Kingdom - fisheries consultations: written record 2025

Non-quota stocks

a) The Parties agreed not to apply the tonnages provided for in Article 2(1)(b) of Annex 38 to the TCA in 2025, but will continue to closely monitor non-quota stocks fished by each Party in the waters of the other Party. The Parties agreed that in the event that either Party reaches 80% of its total before the end of 2025, the Parties will meet and consider next steps.

b) For the purposes of monitoring landings of non-quota species and in line with the Parties’ obligations under Article 507 of the TCA (data-sharing), the Parties agreed to continue exchanging landings data (for each Party’s vessels from the exclusive economic zone and territorial waters of the other Party, and at a species level) at monthly intervals on or before the 25th day of each calendar month, covering the previous calendar month.

c) The Delegations reiterated the commitment made in paragraph 12(c) of the 2023 Written Record to ensure the robustness of the landings data exchanged and recognised again the importance of data transparency. Landings data for 2023 and provisional landings data for the period from 1 January 2024 to 30 September 2024 is set out in Annex 3, outlining aggregate total landings for non-quota species. Overall, in 2023 the EU landings from UK waters comprised a total of 206 non-quota species and the UK landings from EU waters comprised a total of 56 non-quota species.

d) The Parties agreed to update the data quarterly in 2025 to cover the period 1 October to 31 December 2024 and subsequently the period 1 January to 30 September 2025 and attach it to either an appropriate Written Record or minutes of the SCF. The Delegations recognised the importance of data transparency and agreed to discuss this further in the SCF.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​e) The Delegations acknowledged the constructive work undertaken during the joint EU-UK workshop of 18 September 2024 on the development of the multi-year strategy for king scallops and continue discussions in 2025 in the framework of the SCF as a matter of priority.​​​​​​​

f) Seabass

The Delegations discussed measures for seabass and the Parties agreed to roll over arrangements in place during 2024, and agreed that the following adjustments would be introduced in the respective legal systems in the course of 2025: ​​​​​​​

i. The commercial trawl/seine bycatch limits will remain limited to 3.8 tonnes per vessel per year, but the bass per trip limit will increase from 5% to 10% to help reduce discarding;

ii. The hooks and lines catch limits will be amended from 6.2 to 6.8 tonnes per vessel per year;

iii. The fixed gillnet bycatch limits will be amended from 1.6 to 1.8 tonnes per vessel per year.​​​​​​​

The Delegations recalled the commitment made in the Written Record for 2021 paragraph 13(f)(ii) to introduce catch reporting for commercial shore-based netting. The Parties agreed to discuss and update this commitment in the SCF as a priority. 

The EU and UK will jointly request ICES to promptly update the seabass allocation tool following the publication of the benchmark results.  The Parties also agreed to hold technical meetings, within the SCF framework, to evaluate the current seasonal closures (February and March). Any proposed changes will be evidence-based and informed by (ongoing) scientific studies conducted by the Parties.