EIFAAC- News

The European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) held a joint meeting of the EIFAAC Management Committee and Technical and Scientific Committee Meeting at FAO’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Budapest on 18-19 November 2025.

The population of great cormorants in Europe has increased in recent decades from some 50 000 birds in the 1970s to an estimated population of more than 2 million today. The success of this bird conservation by the European Union Birds Directive of EU Member States has had unintended consequences on the ecological balance of European waterways and on fisheries and aquaculture operations.

Adopted in 1979, the EU Birds Directive (Directive 79/409/EEC) represents one of the EU’s foundational pieces of environmental legislation. Its principal objective is to ensure the protection of all wild bird species naturally occurring in the European Union, as well as the conservation of the habitats essential to their survival and reproduction. The Directive aims not only to halt the decline or disappearance of wild bird species, but to create the necessary conditions for their recovery and long-term viability across their natural habitats.

The great cormorant is a conservation success in Europe. Thanks to the protection under the EU Birds Directive, the population grew from some 50 000 birds in the 1970s to more than 2 million birds today. This is good news for bird conservation, but less so for fishes in Europe.

Inland capture fisheries play a vital role in supporting households, economies and cultures across Europe, through both commercial and recreational fishing.

Three papers presented at the EIFAAC Symposium in Killarney in June 2022 were published recently in the aquatic biology journal - Fisheries Management and Ecology.

The Government of the Republic of Moldova recently decided to become Member of the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC). With the formal registration by FAO’s Director General, Dr QU Dongyu, in November 2022, Moldova has now become the 35th Member of EIFAAC.

Rainbow trout caught in recreational fisheries. The Republic of Serbia is the latest country to join the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission. 

North Macedonia has joined the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as it 37th member.

Slovenia has become the latest country to join the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission.

FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Division (NFI) recently prepared a World Aquaculture Performance Indicators (WAPI) factsheet on the aquaculture growth potential within the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) area.

EIFAAC adopted two new Resolutions: 1) On inland fisheries statistics and information for management, and 2) On creating an enabling environment for freshwater aquaculture development.