EU CATCH Rules Changes Risk Cutting Off EU from Alaska Seafood 

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September 17, 2026

Seafood Industry Calls for Reform of EU CATCH System

Advancing EU Efforts to Combat IUU Fishing: Why CATCH Needs Reforms

U.S. seafood organizations urge practical changes to strengthen the fight against IUU fishing and protect legitimate seafood trade

The Pacific Seafood Processors Association (PSPA), Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), and At-sea Processors Association (APA) have published a new whitepaper calling for reforms to the European Union’s CATCH digital seafood traceability system. The paper, Advancing EU Efforts to Combat IUU Fishing: Why CATCH Needs Reforms, outlines concerns with the system and recommends practical changes. The National Seafood Association has also joined in calling for reforms to CATCH.

The organizations strongly support the EU’s efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. However, the current requirements under CATCH create unnecessary barriers for legally harvested seafood while failing to adequately account for the realities of complex seafood supply chains.

“We share the European Union’s goal of preventing IUU fishing and ensuring that seafood entering the European market is legally harvested. But CATCH needs to reflect how seafood is actually harvested, processed and marketed,” said Julie Decker, President of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association. “We want CATCH to succeed, but the current system is imposing enormous costs on legitimate businesses without meaningfully improving the ability to identify IUU product.”

Real-World Disruptions

The whitepaper documents significant disruptions already associated with CATCH implementation. In one case, approximately 16,000 metric tons of Alaska seafood were affected by documentation issues involving two shipments through the Netherlands. The delays generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct costs for an Alaska logistics company, along with additional costs for participating U.S. seafood companies.

A separate case in Denmark resulted in approximately 600 metric tons of U.S. seafood being held amid conflicting guidance concerning CATCH documentation.

“These are not theoretical concerns,” said Jeremy Woodrow, Executive Director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. “When thousands of tons of legally harvested seafood are sitting in storage and businesses face significant additional costs, it is clear that implementation needs to be improved. The EU must establish a better system that protects the integrity of the seafood supply chain without unnecessarily restricting lawful seafood trade.”

Industry Calls for Practical Reforms

The organizations recommend several changes to make CATCH more effective and workable:

• Use a risk-based approach that recognizes countries and fisheries with strong domestic licensing, monitoring, catch accounting and enforcement systems.
• Allow aggregation at commercially meaningful points, such as processing facilities, rather than requiring impractical vessel-by-vessel tracking through complex production chains.
• Revise unreliable mass-balance and processing-statement requirements that do not accurately reflect the relationship between harvested catch and finished seafood products.
• Improve system interoperability, including bulk uploads, standardized data formats and automated data exchange.
• Extend implementation timeline to allow U.S. and EU authorities, industry and importers to conduct transparent, fishery-specific testing and develop workable solutions.

“The Alaska seafood industry has invested heavily in monitoring, enforcement and responsible fisheries management. CATCH should recognize those systems rather than create unnecessary duplication,” said Matt Tinning, CEO of the At-sea Processors Association. “The objective should be better detection of illegal seafood, not simply more paperwork for legal seafood.”

“IUU product has no place in the seafood supply chain.  American companies are proud of our dedication to this principal. The current EU Catch system punishes years of efforts to curtail seafood harvested outside of this commitment,” said Lisa Wallenda Picard of the National Seafood Association.  The concerns are shared by European seafood businesses that depend on reliable international supply chains.

“European seafood businesses fully support the fight against IUU fishing, but CATCH must be workable in practice,” said Katarina Sipic, Secretary General of Seafood Europe. “When legitimate seafood is delayed or held because documentation requirements do not reflect how modern fisheries operate, the consequences are felt by European businesses and consumers as well as international suppliers.”

The recommendations detailed in the whitepaper strengthen, not weaken, the EU’s efforts to combat IUU fishing. They call for continued collaboration between U.S. and EU authorities, industry and other trading partners to develop a system that improves traceability while maintaining efficient access to legally harvested seafood.

“This is ultimately about getting the system right,” said Decker. “We want to work with the European Commission, Member States and U.S. agencies to build a CATCH system that actually helps identify IUU seafood while allowing legitimate seafood to move efficiently through international markets.”

About the Organizations

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) is Alaska’s official seafood marketing organization, promoting Alaska seafood and supporting the long-term health and value of the state’s seafood industry. alaskaseafood.org

At-sea Processors Association (APA) represents companies engaged in at-sea processing of Alaska seafood and advocates for responsible fisheries management and a sustainable seafood industry. atsea.org

National Seafood Association  is the US’s national trade organization that supports sound public policy and nutrition information based on science on behalf of the seafood industry domestically and globally.  aboutseafood.com

Pacific Seafood Processors Association (PSPA) represents Alaska seafood processing companies and advocates for policies that support a sustainable and economically viable Alaska seafood industry. pspafish.net

Seafood Europe represents the interests of European seafood businesses and promotes a competitive, sustainable and well-functioning seafood sector. seafoodeurope.eu

Media Contacts:
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute: Greg Smith – [email protected]
At-sea Processors Association: Matt Tinning – [email protected]
National Seafood Association: Gavin Gibbons – [email protected]
Pacific Seafood Processors Association: Julie Decker – [email protected]
Seafood Europe: Katarina Sipic – [email protected]

Original page content below posted on April 20, 2026

Issue 

As currently implemented, the EU CATCH system imposes data and reporting requirements that are nearly impossible for many of Alaska’s fisheries, creating a near-ban on many Alaska seafood exports to the EU.

Request

The U.S. and EU seafood industry respectfully request Alaska businesses contact their European customers and share how updated EU CATCH documentation requirements will affect their ability to export Alaska seafood products to Europe. Alaska businesses are asked to encourage their European partners to share concerns and ask for more time and/or alternative compliance, to the contacts listed below.

Additionally, the U.S. and EU seafood industry respectfully request that all European importers contact Ms. Katarina Sipic ([email protected]) of Seafood Europe, Mr. Costas Kadis ([email protected]), EU Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner, European Commission, and ministers/administrations of your respective member states to share your concerns and request they:

1) Extend the current grace period beyond July 10, 2026, to allow for meaningful system adjustments;

2) Develop alternative compliance, such as allowing aggregation to the processing facility level, for highly regulated fisheries with fully accounted catches.

The Alaska seafood industry and NOAA are committed to finding workable solutions and system adjustments to meet these requirements, but more time is needed.

“We are observing instances where imports from highly regulated US fisheries, which carry essentially a zero-percent IUU risk, are facing unintended administrative blockages due to document constraints.” – Guus Pastoor, President of Seafood Europe.

Issue Summary

The EU’s new digital CATCH certification system introduces harvest vessel traceability requirements that are incompatible with Alaska fisheries, where catches are routinely aggregated across vessels and tenders to maintain quality and efficiency. Some shipments would require several thousand data entries, imposing prohibitive costs on exporters and importers alike. Without modifications, these requirements risk halting a substantial portion of US seafood exports to the EU—despite Alaska fisheries being among the best- managed and transparent in the world.

Issue Impacts

In January, the EU-issued new catch certificate requirements for import of products from wild capture fisheries into the EU, to prevent import of Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated (IUU) products.  Alaska’s unique fishery operations were not considered in the development of the new digital EU CATCH system; as a result, the EU CATCH system effectively creates a trade barrier equivalent to a ban on much of Alaska’s seafood entering the EU. These issues arise despite full catch accounting and oversight of Alaska fishery harvests.

The primary issue is the requirement for each imported shipment to provide traceability of each harvest vessel’s  contribution to each product by weight (including vessel identifier and date of landing). To make Alaska’s products high quality and competitive, Alaska has adopted several operational practices that aggregate and disaggregate catches from a number of vessels, particularly in small vessel (under 30m) fisheries, that make the proposed traceability requirements infeasible.

• • In many Alaska fisheries, catches are consolidated on tenders for delivery to the plant. In some cases, over 100 vessels will contribute to a single tender. Partial loads can be consolidated among tenders to ensure timely delivery and product quality.
  • To ensure the greatest yield, ancillary products (e.g., roe, milt, bellies, collars, etc.) are also produced. Tracing these products back through the delivery stream to specify each harvest vessel’s contribution is nearly an impossible task, and the operational, labor, and data entry would make those products uneconomic.
  • Products are often sold to secondary processors in non-EU countries (including the US) that are uncertain of the final market for their production. To maximize value, any secondary processor will need the option of selling its production to an EU final market. Consequently, all sales that are not to final markets need to comply with the EU traceability requirements to remain competitive in the market.

In one real-world example, a single representative shipment would have required approximately 3,000 individual product records, each tied to a specific vessel. Even when aggregated to the tender level, the shipment would still require several hundred records, each requiring separate certification and manual data entry into the EU system. This level of reporting transforms a single shipment into what is effectively a full supply chain audit, creating costs that exceed the commercial value of the product.

Several secondary, largely technical issues arise in compliance with new requirements, such as a requirement for a captain’s signature for each vessel that contributed product to a shipment. NOAA Fisheries is working to address these technical issues, however, that will not fix the issues vessel-level traceability of all shipments entering the EU creates.

Without more time for system adjustments and alternative compliance, increased costs will block Alaska products from the EU market.

For more information, please see a detailed situation report at https://www.alaskaseafood.org/wp-content/uploads/Situation-Report-EU-CATCH-04.20.26.pdf.

References & General Resources

FAQs: What is New in the EU CATCH Certification Scheme After the Amendment of the EU IUU Regulation and of the EU IUU Implementing Regulation (webpage)

NOAA Fisheries Update on EU Catch Certificate Requirements (webpage)

EU Catch Certificate and Re-Export Certificate Template (webpage)

European Commission webpage on illegal fishing (webpage)

NOAA Fisheries European Union Certification Requirements (webpage)

Social Responsibility Onboard Commercial Fishing Vessels in Alaska (webpage)

Map of Alaska overlaid onto Europe (webpage)