The new rules contain restrictions on the use of certain types of fishing gear, a list of fish species that cannot be caught, as well as common guidelines on how, where and when EU fishermen may fish.

Consistent with the Commission’s Better Regulation agenda, the main scope of the new law is to simplify all these technical measures, which before were included in more than 30 different pieces of EU legislation.

The issue of electric fishing has been at the forefront of the interinstitutional negotiations, as well as a heated public debate, holding up the entire legislation for months.