In this publication, CFFA calls on the European Union to align its 2028–2034 budget with its commitments to sustainable development and inclusive ocean governance. Supporting African small-scale fisheries requires transparent fund management, meaningful involvement of local stakeholders, and equitable partnerships that promote the sustainability and resilience of coastal communities.
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As the European Union prepares its next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, a 2 trillion euros budget aimed at ‘driving flexibility, simplification, and strategic alignment with all EU priorities’, a key question arises: who will truly benefit from the funds that Europe will spend on fisheries in its external dimension?
Will this funding continue to mainly support Europe’s distant-water fleets, ensuring their access to African waters? Or will it reflect the EU declared commitments on development, climate, and biodiversity, by investing directly in the resilience of Africa small-scale fishing communities?
For CFFA, the answer is clear. In our contribution to the European Commission consultation about the MFF, we argue that the EU must demonstrate in the next budget cycle that its rhetoric about sustainability, climate justice, and partnership with Africa is backed by concrete financial choices. That means aligning fisheries external spending with development goals and an inclusive ocean governance, ensuring that funds are used transparently for partner country priorities, and creating space for Africa artisanal fishers and fish processors to be at the centre of policy making.
1. Future funding for fisheries will be reduced - issues for EU distant water fisheries
The approach for the MFF 2028-2034 proposal is to streamline implementation amongst different policy priorities, including by merging cohesion, agricultural, rural and maritime priorities (including fisheries) under national and regional strategies, co‑designed by the Commission and Member States, delivered under a single partnership framework per Member State, the National and Regional Partnership Plan (NRPP).
The NRPP Fund will include support for the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the European Ocean Pact and the Union’s maritime and aquaculture policy. A minimum of 2 billion euros is ringfenced within the NRPP for fisheries, aquaculture and maritime policy. There is a strong accent put on fisheries as being ‘the lifeblood of our coastal communities and economies’. The NRPP will build ‘a closer link between the EU’s fisheries and ocean-based policy, cohesion, and the Common Agricultural Policy, to provide stronger support for our fishermen and women, while helping stimulate economic activities such as aquaculture, tourism and shipping, creating jobs and improving livelihoods in coastal region’.
The existing European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) will no longer exist as a standalone instrument. All measures currently financed under EMFAF will be eligible under the NRPP, but may be with a lesser priority. Indeed, instead of a sector specific fund like EMFAF, Member States will decide through their NRPP which ‘mixture’ of actions in fisheries, maritime, agricultural, rural, and cohesion to support.
Although the current EMFAF money does not pay for SFPAs or the EU participation costs in Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), it does finance measures affecting EU distant water fishing (DWF), such as:
Compensation for temporary (max 12 months) cessation of activities when fishing stops because of RFMO conservation measures applicable to EU fleets, for the interruption of an SFPA or of an SFPA protocol;
Compensation for permanent cessation (scrapping/decommissioning) if the DWF vessels are considered ‘structurally unbalanced’. Compensation can be funded 100% (to the beneficiary), but with strict conditions (capacity withdrawal, five-year ban for re-entering the fishery).
Onboard investments that improve health, safety, working conditions, energy efficiency or catch quality; control equipment (compulsory VMS, cameras, etc.)
“Reduced support for the EU distant-water fishing fleet could hinder modernisation efforts, weaken social and environmental efforts, and increase pressure on resources shared with African small-scale fishers.””
For the EU’s DWF, the proposed integration of EMFAF into the NRPP means that subsidies currently ring-fenced for sector-specific measures, such as temporary or permanent cessation of activities, onboard improvements, and monitoring tools, will have to compete with other cohesion, agricultural, rural, and maritime priorities. Their financing will depend on national choices under the NRPP, and governments may prioritise agriculture, or cohesion, or other maritime sectors. This will lead to greater uncertainty for distant water fishing fleets.
As a consequence, EU DWF fleets operating in African countries may face reduced access to compensation in the event of SFPA protocol suspensions or stricter RFMOs conservation measures, if national authorities opt not to allocate sufficient NRPP funding for temporary/permanent cessation. These shifts could have indirect significant consequences for African SSF.
If EU fleets receive less support for adapting to changing access conditions, some of them may find it more difficult to comply with high social and environmental standards, and some may try and secure more favourable SFPA terms (access to rich fishing zones), potentially at the expense of SSF access rights and resource sustainability.
A reduction in EU subsidies could limit the EU fleet modernisation operations, which may either reduce competition over fish stocks in African waters, or fuel reflagging operations to flag states that do not require similar standards in terms of safety, control, etc. Such reflagging could undermine sustainability commitments and weaken monitoring of these operations, with negative spillovers on resource availability for artisanal fishers.
2. Lack of clarity about where the SFPA/RFMOs monies will come from
The European Commission proposal for the NRPP Fund explicitly states that it will continue to be the main instrument to provide financing to “continue the drive for concrete delivery on the Union’s objectives, both within the EU and at international level.” This funding is presented as a key enabler for the strengthening of international ocean governance. The Commission also underlines the fact that, under that instrument, continued funding is needed “to finance the international cooperation: Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs), and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), creating the appropriate levers and enabling outcomes as well as promoting high global standards and advancing the EU.”
However, on the other hand, the Commission proposal for MFF also includes “Global Europe”, the single instrument for EU external action, merging NDICI, humanitarian aid and pre‑accession support. This instrument covers themes on ocean governance, climate, biodiversity, and sustainable blue economies. In the Commission Communication on MFF, the funding of SFPAs and EU action in RFMOs are listed as part of this Global Europe funding line [See page 30 of the communication of the European Commission].
So, which is it going to be, the NRPP or Global Europe funding line? This confusion needs to be urgently clarified.
From CFFA’s perspective, SFPAs and EU participation in RFMOs should definitely fall under Global Europe, in order to ensure coherence with the EU development and external action objectives.
To remain a credible partner, the EU must align its funding with the priorities of its African partners, who view small-scale fisheries as a pillar of food security, sustainable development, and the resilience of coastal communities. Photo: Photo: Carmen Abd Ali.
Instruments such as SFPAs are not only about securing access for the EU fleet, but also about supporting partner countries in strengthening governance, building institutional capacity, and safeguarding the livelihoods of artisanal fishers. Having their financing within Global Europe will reinforce the development dimension of SFPAs and participation to RFMOs, aligning them with broader EU commitments on climate, biodiversity, and sustainable blue economies.
For African artisanal fisheries, this approach would help ensure that these instruments contribute to food security, equitable resource access, and investment in local value chains. At the same time, EU fleets also stand to benefit from this approach in the long run: embedding SFPAs and RFMOs in a development oriented framework can create an enabling environment for sustainable fishing through EU public money support in research, MCS, infrastructures thereby securing stable and responsible access conditions into the future, and contributing to level the playing field with high environmental and social standards.
3. Growing recognition of artisanal fisheries importance by African countries
EU African partner countries, including within the framework of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), are increasingly recognising that artisanal fishing communities are central to sustainable development objectives. The African Union 2025 Kampala Declaration explicitly commits governments to strengthen the production and consumption of traditional fisheries products through specific policy reforms and ‘financing strategies for those value chains’.
Similarly, the current OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement (2021, Samoa Agreement) highlights the importance of supporting sustainable fisheries and coastal livelihoods, with a focus on local communities. The OACPS Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministers have underlined the centrality of small-scale fisheries to food security, livelihoods, and sustainable ocean governance. In the 2024 Dar es Salaam Declaration, they reaffirmed that artisanal fisheries are “the mainstay of the OACPS’ fisheries sector”, calling for establishing areas co-managed with fishing communities and closed to industrial activities, to support biodiversity conservation, secure sustainable livelihoods, and contribute to global conservation targets such as the Kunming-Montreal framework.
These political commitments reflect the global consensus that artisanal fishers and processors, especially women, play an irreplaceable role in ensuring affordable protein supply, maintaining social cohesion, and linking fisheries governance in local realities.
“The OACPS ministers of fisheries and aquaculture have called for the creation of fishing zones co-managed with local communities and closed to industrial vessels to ensure food security for local populations.””
At the same time, African coastal states are increasingly linking the recognition of artisanal fisheries to urgent environmental and climate issues. Indeed, small-scale fishers are on the frontline when it comes to biodiversity protection, notably through their involvement in coastal ecosystems restauration (like mangroves), that also act as blue carbon sinks. They also embody resilience to the impacts of climate change, adapting to shifting seasons, declining stocks, and extreme weather while continuing to supply domestic and regional markets (this was also true during the Covid crisis). This perspective is strongly reflected in instruments such as the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, endorsed by AU and OACPS members alike, as well as the EU.
All this demonstrates a clear shift: African artisanal fishing communities are no longer seen as marginal stakeholders by African countries, but as the backbone of strategies for food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience. This should also be the case in the partnership the EU has with Africa.
4. Coherence and synergies are paramount
Through its strategy for external fisheries action, the European Union will have a powerful lever to advance its international commitments on sustainability, food security, climate justice and human rights – the increased competition for funding between fisheries and other sectors means the EU must mobilise these financial instruments in a coherent, strategic and targeted manner, and be more closely aligned with the priorities expressed by African partner countries.
Indeed, in the case the EU was to reduce its overall support for governance and sustainable fisheries development in African countries, it risks losing strategic influence to other actors who are increasing their support (like China), and compromising the standards of transparency and good governance that it seeks to promote internationally through its strategy for external fisheries action.
Whether the funding for SFPAs and RFMOs is under Global Europe or under NRPP Fund, what is essential is that SFPAs, and SFPAs funding, become a tool of the strategy for EU external fisheries action, with the primary objective of supporting sustainable fisheries in partner countries, rather than funding EU fleets access.
This could be done first by allocating 100% of the SFPA financial contribution to sectoral support, to be spent in line with the sustainable development priorities of the countries concerned.
Other funding lines under Global Europe should complement SFPA funds by financing initiatives that fall under Global Europe’s scope (like building up climate resilience, or promoting gender equity) and that SFPAs alone cannot cover entirely. These initiatives include value‑chain development (landing sites for small scale fisheries, women fish processing activities, or climate adaptation in African small‑scale fisheries), technical assistance to strengthen African countries, and fishing communities, informed participation to RFMOs, or to create a new RFMO on small pelagics in West Africa.
Active and dormant SFPAs and RFMOs where the EU participates should be treated as policy platforms for dialogue with third countries on sustainable fisheries. On the other hand, Global Europe should fund governance and resilience initiatives, with a focus on local livelihoods and ecosystems, that complement what will be initiated through the future SFPAs. SFPAs could become tools to steer science at national and regional levels (Joint scientific Committees), control and management (like shared management of small pelagics, whilst Global Europe could complement the financing of the agreed actions.
Funding for SFPAs, whether through Global Europe or PPNRs, should primarily support the objectives of partner countries. This could mean allocating 100% of the SFPA financial contribution to sectoral support, aligned with national priorities for the development of sustainable fisheries. Photo: A woman cuts fish at the port of Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau, by Carmen Abd Ali.
This supposes better coordination between these policies and funding instruments, through the implementation of regional strategies according to ocean basins, (something which was already proposed in a Commission communication ten years ago and backed by the European Parliament). These strategies should be co-constructed with African partner governments and stakeholders, in particular small-scale fisheries, and benefit from strong inter-service coordination between the relevant directorates-general (MARE, INTPA, EEAS).
5. Will Global Europe care for African SSF?
Ensuring synergies between Global Europe fisheries-related spending and SFPA and the focus on small scale fisheries support will help to deliver tangible benefits to partner countries. That supposes that Global Europe funding makes fisheries, and small scale fisheries – a pillar of coastal economies, food security and climate resilience - a priority…
Under the MFF, the Global Europe instrument, gathering external aid, humanitarian assistance, and development cooperation will almost double, from around 110 billion euros to about 200 billion euros.
While this expansion suggests potential for increased funding, the focus shifts toward the EU’s strategic interests, such as trade, security, migration, rather than traditional development goals. In the African context, this could mean that fishery cooperation may become more responsive to EU priorities rather than aligned with long-term, African-led development and environmental sustainability, including small scale fisheries.
Without explicit political will to promote coherent support to small scale fisheries in Africa, and appropriate coordination mechanisms, Global Europe projects on oceans may focus on conservation or maritime security, ignoring the necessary support to fisheries. Indeed, the share of Global Europe for external fisheries is likely to be minimal compared to agriculture, Ukraine‑related priorities, etc.
There is currently no ringfenced budget line for ‘sustainable fisheries’ inside Global Europe - fisheries actions will continue to be selected at programming stage. Assuming the programming will be somewhat similar than for the 2021-2027 period, it will go through Multi-Annual Indicative Programmes (MIPs) and Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) and their pipelines, which translate MIPs into concrete actions.
Currently, in Africa, several MIPs (Sub-saharan Africa, Western Indian Ocean) mention sustainable blue economy, climate resilience, food systems, but often in broad terms. So, the MIP decision making process will determine whether funds are to be used for industrial infrastructure or for genuinely supporting artisanal fishing communities, their climate adaptation, and the protection of ecosystems they depend on for their livelihoods.
MIPs are aligned with African governments strategies (like the AU Blue Economy Strategy, Kampala declaration, etc.). The advocacy that African artisanal fishers (CAOPA, Afrifish) are undertaking to ensure that artisanal fishers, processors, and coastal communities are considered a priority is essential to influence EU future support.
6. Will If there isn’t a budget line for African small-scale fisheries, we need to build one
Team Europe Initiatives are joint initiatives in which the EU, Member States (and their development agencies, like GIZ, AFD), and European public banks put together finance, expertise, and policy dialogue around a single results framework, so that all these funding actors deliver a single coherent programme. TEI are part of the EU external-action architecture.
The process to identify TEI is called a ‘pipeline’, which is the list of potential TEI that EU Delegations, Member States, and financial institutions have identified during the programming process linked to MIPs. The pipeline stage is exploratory: initiatives are collected, screened, and prioritised by the EU Delegation in consultation with European Commission, Member States, partner governments, and sometimes civil society. From this pipeline, a smaller number of initiatives then become TEIs, if there is enough alignment and political will. TEIs are coordinated jointly by the EU and Member States, and are made more visible. They also receive pool funding (Global Europe, Member States agencies, development banks). Current TEIs prioritise areas such as sustainable energy, or value chains.
In the next MFF, there should be a distinct TEI on securing fisheries / ocean governance, ensuring that initiatives supporting post-harvest infrastructure for women processors, community-led ecosystem restoration in Africa, are included - rather than only industrial or maritime security projects.
With EU SFPAs offering a structured forum for dialogue and cooperation, a TEI could be used to allocate complementary funding to SFPA sectoral support for climate resilience, management, research and control.
A TEI on securing fisheries and ocean governance should have a clear focus on West Africa, the region where the EU maintains the highest number of SFPAs, where several EU member States Cooperation agencies have an important action in fisheries, and where artisanal fisheries are particularly key for food security, livelihoods, and regional trade.
A Team Europe Initiative on fisheries governance in West Africa could support joint research, data collection, and participatory management of small pelagic species to ensure the sustainability and resilience of these fisheries at regional level. Photo: artisanal fishers in Bissau port, by Carmen Abd Ali.
Crucially, this region is also the centre of the shared small pelagic fisheries – a staple food source in the region – and whose management requires strong regional cooperation under bodies such as the CECAF and SRFC. Supporting joint research, data collection, and participative management of these resources in the context of a TEI would directly respond to CFFA’s and its SSF partners’ long-standing call for EU action to prioritise sustainability and resilience of artisanal small pelagic fisheries in West Africa.
In addition, the region already has artisanal fisheries networks, including women organisations, engaged in policy dialogues, meaning that TEI resources could reinforce existing initiatives, led by fishers, in processing infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, and inclusive governance.
A West Africa focused TEI on fisheries and ocean governance would therefore not only support EU development and ocean governance commitments, but also strengthen participative regional management of small pelagics, securing a cornerstone of food security for millions.
7. Casting the net wider: making the MFF work for African artisanal fishers
The next MFF is more than a budget cycle. It is a test of Europe’s ability to match words with action. If the EU fails to provide clarity, coherence, and dedicated support for artisanal fisheries, it risks undermining African livelihoods, eroding its own credibility, and ceding influence to other international actors such as China.
CFFA’s proposed roadmap is clear and realistic: Place SFPAs and RFMOs under Global Europe, to ensure coherence with development and external action. Dedicate one hundred percent of SFPA contributions to partner country priorities, restoring trust and legitimacy. Launch a Team Europe Initiative for West Africa, pooling resources to secure resilience, co-management, and sustainable prospects for women in African artisanal fisheries value chains in the context of climate change.
By taking these steps, the EU can transform fisheries funding into a genuine partnership. One that delivers tangible benefits for African partners, secures sustainable resources for the future, and puts fishing communities’ resilience at the centre of the EU-Africa fisheries relationship.
Banner photo: a woman at a fish market in Guinea-Bissau, by Carmen Abd Ali.
CFFA urges the EU to align its 2028–2034 budget with its commitments to sustainable development and ocean governance. Support for African small-scale fisheries must be anchored in transparency and based on inclusive, equitable partnerships.