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On Saturday January 10, it was still impossible to download the RecFishing application from the Apple Store. Visit website was indeed put online, and the Android version on Google Play was available for a few hours, before disappearing. "Due to technical difficulties," reads a press release from the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, "the European Commission is unable to bring online the European RecFishing application for the registration and declaration of recreational fishermen's catches. In this context, the registration and declaration obligations, which were due to come into force on January 10, 2026, have been postponed to a later date".
Before the summer of 2026?
The timetable has not been specified. However, the Ministry is referring to a delay of "several weeks". "The Commission will shortly be proposing a timetable for dissemination in the various member states, and will thus specify the opening date of the electronic platform for France in the coming weeks", the press release states. As a result, recreational anglers do not now have to register or declare their catches during this transitional period. There was an alternative solution in the form of paper declarations, but this seems too complicated to manage.
2.5 million French people affected
RecFishing will enable you to register and declare your catches, even if you practice no-kill fishing. The aim is manifold: "The data collected from recreational anglers will enable us to improve our knowledge of fishing practices and the state of fish resources," explains the French government on a page dedicated to the 2.5 million . Better knowledge of practices will help us to combat illegal practices, to guarantee greater protection for marine species and environments".
How does it work?
Only anglers aged +16 will be concerned. You'll need to register for free once a year on the app, and then declare your catch each time you go out, during or just after, as long as it's on the same day. An initial list of sensitive species has been drawn up, and will evolve until 2029. Today, for the North Sea, English Channel and Atlantic, sea bass, pollack, gilthead bream and red tuna must be declared. For the Mediterranean, dolphinfish, bluefin tuna and gilthead bream will be concerned. The application will ask for the number, size, weight, location and technique used. Even no-kill fishermen will have to comply.
Why aren't the fishermen happy?
The obligation to declare catches led to an outcry even before the application was released. It was precisely the latter that the naysayers intended to boycott. Without necessarily being against it, there are in fact concerns: lack of efficiency, failure to respect public consultation, vagueness over the use of no-kill data... The measure's postponement only adds fuel to their fire.
