Commissioner Costas Kadis addressed stakeholders at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, highlighting the European Union’s commitment to advancing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4, which targets the sustainable management of fisheries. Kadis emphasized the challenges of overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and their impacts on biodiversity and coastal communities.
Digital Transformation as a Policy Priority Kadis presented the EU’s strategy to revolutionize fisheries control through digital means. The cornerstone of this approach is the 2023 revised Fisheries Control Regulation, which mandates electronic catch reporting, vessel tracking, and remote monitoring, laying the groundwork for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and automatic catch registration. This shift signals an increase in EU regulatory powers in digital surveillance and enforcement, enhancing transparency and real-time data accuracy.
AI Implementation and Monitoring Commissioner Kadis showcased concrete projects funded under Horizon Europe and EMFAF, such as EVERYFISH and Optifish, aiming to harness AI for real-time species identification, anomaly detection, and environmental monitoring. These tools seek to transform fisheries management from reactive checks to proactive, data-driven oversight.
Stakeholder Implications The proposed digital overhaul impacts multiple stakeholders: - Fisheries operators face increased compliance costs and operational monitoring. - National authorities benefit from enhanced enforcement capabilities but must manage interoperability and ethical use standards. - EU consumers and coastal communities may gain from better managed marine resources and sustainable fisheries. - Technology providers stand to engage in developing new AI-driven monitoring tools.
Kadis underscored the need for clear rules on data privacy and ethical AI use, reflecting concerns over supervision intensity and personal data protection. The European Ocean Pact was mentioned as a policy framework to ensure cross-sectoral coordination.
Overall, Commissioner Kadis’ speech signals a shift toward smarter, technology-driven regulation, increasing EU oversight capabilities and regulatory innovation in fisheries management, with measurable implementation through legal reform and dedicated funding initiatives.
← Atlas › News › Agri-food