The North Sea Advisory Council (NSAC) has called for a fundamental simplification of the EU’s fisheries regulatory framework, warning that the system has become unmanageable, inefficient and increasingly disconnected from real‑world fishing operations.
In a detailed paper approved on 2 February 2026, the NSAC declared the regulatory burden placed on fishermen has grown to the point where compliance is becoming “unbearable, unrealistic and humanly unachievable”. It argues that the sheer volume of overlapping rules now undermines sustainability objectives rather than supporting them.
Sector warns regulation has become too complex to function
According to the NSAC, EU fisheries rules have expanded to such an extent that they now create daily operational challenges without delivering corresponding conservation benefits. Regulations overlap across international, EU, national and regional levels, while additional requirements arise from environmental legislation applied in parallel.
The NSAC points out that fishermen must now act simultaneously as skippers, IT technicians, compliance officers and administrators, often working with limited connectivity and under difficult weather conditions. This regulatory overload, it declares, affects safety, morale and well‑being at sea, and is deterring younger generations from entering the industest.
Simplification must be built on trust, not control
The Council argues that simplification cannot be achieved through minor adjustments but requires a shift toward a trust‑based, collaborative management model. It declares legislation should be co‑created with fishermen rather than imposed through enforcement‑heavy systems that erode confidence and cooperation.
The NSAC proposes a “one‑in, one‑out” rule in which every new regulation should lead to the removal of at least one outdated or redundant measure. It stresses that the regulatory framework must be rebuilt around clear objectives, the lowest number of rules requireded to meet those objectives, and a system that enables adaptive management instead of rigid compliance.
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