In recent years, the trawl fleet has been subject to different legislative changes. In 2019, the European Union established a Multiannual Plan (Regulation (EU) 2019/1022) for demersal fishing in the Western Mediterranean, which consisted of a fishing effort management regime aimed at meeting the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) (Regulation (EU) 1380/2013). The objective has always been to apply fisheries management with an ecosystem approach, in order to ensure that fishing activities have a minimal impact on the marine ecosystem. However, the comprehensive and multidisciplinary evaluation of its impact is still to be developed and requires specific studies in many aspects.

This Plan established a series of objectives that should have been reflected as a deadline of 1 January 2025, including the reduction of fishing effort by 30%. However, at the end of 2024 the European Union reported a drastic reduction in fishing days for the Western Mediterranean trawl fleet, which consisted of a cut from the 160 days it fished the previous year to 27 days.

After several protests and demonstrations, an agreement was finally concluded on 11 December 2024 consisting of the establishment of a series of mandatory and voluntary compensatory measures in order to finally ensure that fishermen can fish on the same days as in 2024. The voluntary measure consists of replacing conventional doors with flying doors, giving 3% of the total days allocated to ships that adopt it. On the other hand, the mandatory measures focus on the implementation of flakes with square meshes of a minimum size of 45 mm for coastal fishing and 50 mm for deep-sea fishing. These measures have been implemented without a prior analysis of the socioeconomic risks of their implementation. Based on this need, the COMPENSA-MED project aims to evaluate the socio-economic impact of the compensatory measures established by the European Union, using as a case study two of the key areas for the trawling fishing sector in the Spanish Mediterranean, the province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia.

This initiative proposes a comprehensive action in the fishing areas of the study area, with the aim of rigorously and participatively evaluating the effect of compensatory measures on the trawl fleet, while promoting the sustainability of the marine environment and promoting the knowledge and involvement of the fishing sector.