Fishing quotas reduced in 2025: deductions for overfishing in the EU

Key data

European fishing fleets that caught above their authorized limits in previous years now face direct deductions on their 2025 quotas. The Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/890, published on 24 April 2026, activates the corrective mechanism provided for in the Common Fisheries Policy and reduces the legal catch capacity of non-compliant countries during the current exercise.

The impact is not merely administrative: less available quota means fewer legal catches, lower revenues for fishing companies and potential operational tensions for fleets that have already committed their activity for 2025.

What does this regulation establish?

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/890 applies an automatic deduction mechanism to fishing quotas allocated for 2025 to Member States that exceeded their catch limits in previous years. This mechanism is expressly provided for in Common Fisheries Policy regulations as a correction and sustainability tool.

The key elements of the mechanism are as follows:

• Automatic deductions: Applied directly to 2025 quotas, without the need for additional sanctioning procedures.
• Calculation based on excess: The deduction is calculated based on the volume of catches that exceeded the authorized limit in previous exercises.
• Multiplier factor: The regulation may apply a multiplier factor as a penalty, meaning the reduction may be greater than the recorded excess catches.
• Specific species: Deductions affect specific fish populations, not the overall quota of the Member State.
• Amendment of previous regulation: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158 is updated, modifying its annexes to incorporate the new deductions.

The regulation does not establish an immediate appeal procedure: deductions are a direct consequence of catch data already recorded and validated by European authorities.

Economic and operational impact

The reduction in available quota has direct consequences for the activity and revenues of affected fishing companies. The main impacts are:

• Lower volume of legal catches in 2025: Fleets from affected countries will not be able to fish up to the limit they would have had without the deduction. Each deducted tonne is a tonne that cannot be legally marketed.
• Effect amplified by the multiplier factor: If the penalty multiplier factor is applied, the reduction may be significantly greater than the recorded excess. A fleet that caught 100 tonnes over could see its quota reduced by 150 or more tonnes in 2025, depending on the coefficient applied.
• Impact on planning and contracts: Companies that have already committed sales or supply contracts for 2025 must review whether they can fulfill them with the reduced quota.
• Risk of chained violations: If a fleet operates without knowing the deduction applied and exceeds the reduced quota, it incurs new overfishing, which would generate additional deductions in future exercises.

The amendment of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158 means that the reference annexes for quota management have changed. Companies and shipowners using those annexes as a planning basis must update their working documents.

Who does it affect?

• Shipowners and fishing companies from Member States with recorded overfishing in specific fish populations in previous years.
• Spanish fishing fleets, in case Spain is listed among the affected countries in the annexes of Regulation (EU) 2026/890. This must be verified directly in the official text.
• Fishermen's associations and producer organizations that manage and distribute quotas among their members.
• Fish marketing and processing companies that depend on the catch volume of affected fleets for their activity.
• Advisors and managers of fishing companies who must update quota planning for 2025.
• National fisheries administrations responsible for distributing quotas among their fleets.

Practical example

A Spanish shipping company that in previous years exceeded by 200 tonnes its authorized quota for a specific species faces in 2025 an automatic deduction on that same species.

If the Regulation applies a penalty multiplier factor (for example, 1.5), the deduction would not be 200 tonnes but 300 tonnes on the 2025 quota. This means that, even if the company had 1,000 tonnes allocated for 2025, it could only legally fish 700 tonnes of that species during the exercise.

If that company already has signed sales contracts for 900 tonnes, it would face a deficit of 200 tonnes that it cannot legally cover, with the consequent contractual and economic risk.

Note: The figures in the example are illustrative. The specific multiplier factor applied to each species and Member State must be consulted in the annexes of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/890.

What should companies do now?

1. Verify if Spain is listed in the annexes of Regulation (EU) 2026/890: Consult the official text on EUR-Lex to confirm whether Spanish fleets are affected and for which specific species deductions apply.
2. Review the actual available quota for 2025: Contact the national fisheries authority (General Secretariat for Fisheries) to obtain the updated quota after deductions applied.
3. Update catch planning: Adjust fishing plans for 2025 to the reduced quota, avoiding exceeding the new limits and generating additional deductions in 2026.
4. Review current supply contracts: Check whether signed delivery commitments are compatible with the available quota after deduction. In case of deficit, activate force majeure clauses or renegotiate terms.
5. Update planning documents based on Regulation (EU) 2025/2158: The annexes of that regulation have been modified by Regulation (EU) 2026/890. Any internal reference to those annexes must be updated.
6. Consult a specialist advisor in fisheries regulations: If the company operates in multiple species or areas, the calculation of deductions can be complex. A specialist advisor can help assess the real impact and plan activity within the new limits.