New EU Catch Certificate Requirements for Lobster Exports

The European Union (EU) has strengthened its seafood import rules under

the EUIUU Regulation, which is designed to prevent Illegal, Unreported, and

Unregulated (IUU) fishing from entering EU markets. As part of these updates,

the EU has moved to a fully digital catch-certificate system known as EU

CATCH System, which took effect for imports beginning in January 2026.

Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative photo.

The EU is one of the largest seafood import markets in the world and requires

documentation verifying that fishery products were harvested legally. Catch

certificates are intended to prevent illegally harvested seafood from entering

the EU market, improve traceability from the harvest vessel to the final product,

detect seafood fraud and mislabeling, and ensure imported seafood meets

the same oversight standards required of EU fisheries.

Th ese requirements apply to all wild-caught seafood entering the EU, which

means Maine’s lobster industry must comply to export to this market.

While the new requirements primarily affect companies that export lobster to

the EU, the lobster supply chain must ensure that the information needed to

complete the certification is available. This creates an administrative burden

for dealers and processors selling lobster products to Europe. Key compliance

steps include:

Digital catch certificates: EU importers must submit catch certificates
electronically through the EU’s CATCH system before the product enters
the EU.
Harvest traceability: Export documentation must identify the harvest vessel,
gear type (lobster traps/pots), catch area, species, and weight.
Processing documentation: Processors must provide a processing statement
linking the product back to the original catch certificate.
U.S. validation: Catch certificates must be validated by the U.S. government
through NOAA’s seafood trade certification system.

Lobstermen should talk to their dealers to find out if they are subject to these

requirements. Th is program will require lobstermen to sign off to verify the

product that they sell each day. By signing, lobstermen’s landings data will

no longer be confidential because it will be used to certify the origin on of the

catch.

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