Hearings
A committee is permitted to organise a hearing with experts, where this is considered essential to its work on a particular subject. Hearings can also be held jointly by two or more committees. Most committees organise regular hearings, as they allow them to hear from experts and hold discussions on the key issues. On this page you will find all the available information relating to committee hearings, including programmes and contributions from speakers.
The hearing provided evidence and guidance for better implementation of the Eel Regulation. European eel is a migratory species with a unique life cycle. Between their spawning phase and pre-reproductive stage, European eel migrate from the Northwest Atlantic to the coasts of their distribution range and continental waters. European eels are declining globally due to a combination of natural causes and human activity that impact the stock and its habitats at different life stages.
The Commission recently proposed a controversial "action plan" to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, along with other initiatives implementing the European Green Deal. Considering its potential impact on fishing activities and the many challenges the fisheries sector is facing right now, notably the rise in fuel price, we need to think in a more focused way about the future of EU fisheries.
On Tuesday 28 March 2023, the Committee on Fisheries held a public hearing entitled "Marine pollution (in particular plastic pollution) and its impact on fisheries".
On Monday 27 March, the PECH Committee, in association with the ENVI and PETI Committees held a public hearing on the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "Stop Finning – Stop the Trade".
On 23 January 2023, the Committee on Fisheries held a hearing on the implementation of the State of play of the Multiannual Plan (MAP) for the Baltic Sea, which has been the first MAP adopted back in 2016. Over the past years, fish stocks in the Baltic Sea have been suffering from a number of problems, not all of them related to the fishing effort, but resulting nonetheless in dwindling stocks, in particular for the Baltic Cod.
The significant increases in energy and fuel prices in 2022 have hit the EU fishing sector hard. Many vessels, in particular from the small-scale fishing fleet, increasingly choose to stay in port, as they simply cannot afford to go out to sea.
The Committee on Fisheries held a public hearing on the "Maritime Spatial Planning Directive and its Implementation and Impact on Fisheries" on 11 July 2022.
Spitsbergen to Brexit: sustainable fisheries management in the NE-Atlantic & Arctic
On 14 June 2022, the Committee on Fisheries held a public hearing entitled "Spitsbergen to Brexit: a new paradigm for sustainable fisheries management in the NE-Atlantic & Arctic". In a post-Brexit world, time is ripe to examine fishing agreements in the Arctic region.
In many European regions, increasing cormorant populations (Phalacrocorax carbo) are putting pressure on fisheries, aquaculture and biodiversity with heavy economic and social impacts for fishers and fish farmers.
Hearing on "State of Play in the implementation of the CFP and future perspectives"
On 17 March 2022, the Committee on Fisheries held a public hearing “State of play in the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy and future perspectives”.
The blue economy concept relates to the exploitation, preservation and regeneration of the marine environment. To fully embed the blue economy into the Green Deal and the recovery strategy, the Commission adopted in May 2021 a new approach for a sustainable blue economy in the EU.
Recent studies have estimated the importance of marine recreational fisheries (MRF) in Europe with 9 million people, or 1.6% of the population, participating, spending almost 6 billion euros, and fishing for around 77 million days each year. The size of the economic impact of marine recreational fisheries within Europe is significant enough to consider the development of a common and stable economic data collection program.