EU's Digital Catch Certification System Causes Chaos for Fishing Exporters

The European Union's ambitious digital transformation of fishing catch certification has hit turbulent waters, with exporters reporting significant disruptions to their operations just weeks after the new system launched. The Catch platform, designed to replace paper-based certification with a digital system to combat illegal fishing, is instead creating a backlog of shipping containers at major European ports.

Technical Turmoil at European Ports

The problems began almost immediately after the January 10 launch date. Containers full of fresh seafood are piling up at ports including Antwerp, Zeebrugge, and even at the UK border, as the digital system struggles to process catch certificates efficiently. The timing couldn't be worse for an industry dealing with highly perishable goods.

Hilde Crevits, vice-minister-president of Belgium's Flemish government, was blunt in her assessment during the EU's agriculture and fisheries ministers meeting in Brussels. Through an official translator, she stated that January 10 "was too early to start" the new system. The Flemish official highlighted the practical challenges facing fishermen, particularly with a new regulation requiring captains to record the weights caught for each type of fish in a digital logbook. In Belgian fishing grounds where vessels catch up to 20 different species, this requirement has proven cumbersome and time-consuming.

System Failures and Missing Data

Exporters are reporting a litany of technical issues that go beyond mere inconvenience. According to reports from The Financial Times, one importer had dozens of shipping containers of fish stuck in Rotterdam, with the Catch system only clearing about half of their shipments. The problems cited include:

• Frequent "inexplicable error messages" and server errors
• Missing fish species from the system's database
• Incomplete postal code coverage for countries using the certification scheme
• Size limits on uploading PDF catch certificates from non-EU countries that are too restrictive

The system's lack of integration with customs control systems and countries outside the EU that use its certification scheme has created a particularly thorny problem. Marco Canaparo, Italy's deputy permanent representative, warned that "the technical gaps and lack of interoperability with third parties risk paralysing the imports and logistics of our companies without adding any benefits."

Industry Impact and Economic Concerns

The fishing industry operates on tight margins and even tighter timelines. Unlike many other exports, seafood has a very limited shelf life, making delays at ports particularly damaging. The current situation threatens not only the freshness and quality of the products but also the financial viability of shipments that may spoil before they can be cleared through customs.

The European Commission has acknowledged some of the issues, attributing certain problems to the shift from patchy national implementations of the previous paper-based systems. However, this explanation has done little to assuage the concerns of exporters who find themselves with containers full of fish that cannot reach their destinations.

Looking Forward

As the fishing industry grapples with these digital growing pains, questions are being raised about the implementation timeline and the readiness of the Catch platform. The situation highlights the challenges of large-scale digital transformations in sectors where traditional paper-based systems, while perhaps less efficient, were at least reliable and understood by all stakeholders.

The European Commission now faces pressure to address these technical shortcomings quickly, as the fishing industry cannot afford prolonged disruptions. The current chaos serves as a cautionary tale about the risks of rushing digital transitions without adequate testing and stakeholder preparation, particularly in industries dealing with time-sensitive, perishable goods.

The coming weeks will be critical in determining whether the Catch platform can be salvaged and whether the EU's digital certification ambitions can be realized without causing lasting damage to the fishing export industry.