How will the EFF help the restructuring needs of the European fishing fleet?
The requirement to draw up a national strategic plan for the entire fisheries sector of a Member State will help to define and streamline their strategy for adjusting the fishing fleet to available resources and put in place the adequate supporting measures. All efforts to restructure the fleet would be vain if subsidies were still provided to bringing in new vessels or increasing the already oversized fleet. This is why no EFF money would serve this purpose. Instead public aid will be possible for the modernisation of vessels under the condition that, nor the capacity neither the ability of vessels to catch fish, are increased. Under the EFF, the restructuring of the fleet goes beyond the notion of the simple reduction of the fleet. It includes other measures such as compensation or premiums when fishing activities are permanently or temporarily stopped as well as a wide range of measures of economic and social nature.Particular attention is also given to small-scale coastal fisheries
