The North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission's 2024 annual meeting ends in disagreement over fisheries management and IUU enforcement

The 43rd annual meeting of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) ended in disagreement over approaches to fisheries management and IUU responses. The meeting, which was held in London, England, from 12 to 15 November, entailed NEAFC’s contracting parties – Denmark, which also represents the Faroe Islands and Greeland; the E.U; Iceland; Norway; Russia; and the U.K. – agreeing on conservation and management measures for 2025 for a number of fish stocks, including redfish, herring, mackerel, blue whiting, and Rockall haddock. A complete ban on fishing certain species, including porbeagle and orange roughy, was also agreed upon, and the parties agreed on a very limited quota for spurdog. Contracting parties also agreed upon the importance of “cross-sectoral cooperation in the context of biodiversity protection and ecosystems-based management of fisheries” but could not agree on how to implement such cooperation. In a release that the E.U.'s Directorate-General for ...