Our new report delves deep into a lesser-known channel of policy influence: Advisory Councils (ACs). These provide the Commission with advice on fisheries policy, but who really sits on them? After analysing all eleven of them, we find:
- Fisheries ACs are disproportionately skewed towards large industry interests. These voices dominate: 70% of all AC seats are allocated to large industry players. One Advisory Committee, the North Western Waters AC, allocates 83 % of seats to industry players.
- Small-scale fisheries, which make up 77% of the EU fishing fleet, only take up 8% of all seats and are not represented at all on two ACs (Aquaculture and Long Distance AC).
- Despite an obligation for these Councils to maintain a 60-40 split between “industry” and “other interest groups”, NGOs are consistently underrepresented. NGOs represent only 12% of all AC seats.
- In general, 78% of all AC seats are occupied by industry representatives, substantially exceeding the 60% quota stipulated by the rules, while other interest groups account for only 22% of seats, falling short of the required 40%.
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