The European Union Seafood Alliance (EUSeA) has welcomed the European Commission’s renewed focus on protein resilience, strategic autonomy and sustainable food systems, while warning that current policy frameworks dangerously overlook aquatic foods.
EUSeA – which represents the European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAPO), Europêche, the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), Seafood Europe and the European Mollusc Producers Association (EMPA) – acknowledged the importance of the Commission's recently published Action Plan for resilience, strategic autonomy and sustainability of the EU protein system, alongside the EU Strategy on Livestock.
While these initiatives aim to strengthen resilience, reduce strategic dependencies and support more sustainable food production, the alliance stressed that Europe’s protein strategy will remain incomplete if aquatic foods continue to be pushed to the margins.
Aquatic foods in the protein strategy
"Aquatic foods are already available, nutritious and high-quality sources of protein," EUSeA stated in a press release. "They contribute to healthy diets, coastal communities, responsible production, processing activities, employment, trade, consumer choice and food-system resilience. Seafood must be part of Europe’s protein conversation. If the EU wants a resilient, sustainable and strategically autonomous protein system, aquatic foods cannot remain at the margins."
The organisation highlighted a noteworthy shift in the Commission's approach towards livestock – which was long treated primarily as a source of emissions, but is now recognised as a critical element for Europe's food security. EUSeA argued that fisheries and aquaculture deserve the exact same strategic recognition.
"A genuine paradigm shift is needed – one that sees aquatic food production not as part of the problem, but as an essential contributor to food security, coastal resilience, strategic autonomy and the sustainable management of marine resources," the alliance said, calling the EU protein agenda to ensure stronger coherence across the different Commission services.
A blue foods plan for 2040
To address this gap, EUSeA has reiterated its call for an EU Action Plan for Blue Foods to be fully reflected in the forthcoming Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040. The alliance stated that this Vision should be ambitious and become the Commission’s main strategic framework for recognising and strengthening the contribution of aquatic foods to Europe’s food system. It should also ensure that aquatic foods are properly integrated into the wider EU protein and livestock agendas, which explicitly exclude fisheries, aquaculture, and their processing sectors despite being an important source and user of protein in the EU’s food and feed system.
Beyond primary food production, the group highlighted the potential of making full and responsible use of aquatic biological resources. Existing EU initiatives (including VALORISH, EcoeFISHent, WaSeaBi and SEA2LAND) have demonstrated how fisheries and aquaculture by-products can be transformed into high-value food ingredients, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, biomaterials, packaging, construction materials, water treatment solutions, soil amendments and bio-based fertilisers, as well as creating new value chains for invasive species and underutilised stocks.
The EU Seafood Alliance confirmed it stands ready to work with the European Commission in the preparation of the Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040 and in the implementation of the EU protein and livestock agenda to ensure that Europe’s protein strategy reflects the contribution of all responsible food sectors, including aquatic foods.
