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The reform of the CFP requires member States to adjust their fishing capacities to bring them into line with fishing opportunities. The member States are required to submit an annual report on the balance between the fishing capacity of their fleet and the fishing opportunities, using the guidelines prepared by the European Commission. If imbalances between capacity and opportunities are identified, action plans should be incorporated into the report. These reports are required to be submitted to the Commission by 31 March each year, and are made publicly available. A failure to report, or to implement actions, may result in a suspension or interruption of relevant EU financial assistance.

The member States are required to comply with a fleet entry/exit scheme without introducing additional fishing capacity. Departures from the fishing fleet should not be supported by public aid unless fishing licences and authorizations are withdrawn. In addition, when fishing vessels are withdrawn with public aid, their corresponding fishing capacities should not be replaced.

Under the CFP reform, a member State may introduce a system for transferable fishing concessions (TFC), which is a way to allocate the yearly national quotas among fishermen in a given member State. Among EU members, TFCs have been used for example in Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

EU fishing activities outside EU waters are based on the same principles as fishing within the EU. Arrangements for fishing outside the EU are to be developed through Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and through Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs).

The EU has actively continued to participate in two types of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs): for highly migratory fish stocks (6 tuna RFMOs) and for other fish stocks (11 non-tuna RFMOs). The EU is also an active participant in multilateral negotiations on the law of the sea and international fisheries law under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and other international agreements and conventions dealing with fishing such as UN FAO, and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The EU continues to cooperate with third countries and international organizations to fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing worldwide.

Regarding arrangements with non-EU countries, the EU has two types of fishing agreements: "Northern Agreements" on joint management of shared stocks with Norway, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands (reciprocal agreements); and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs), in the context of which the EU provides financial and technical support in exchange for fishing rights, mainly with developing countries.

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) aim at improving some aspects of earlier Fisheries Partnership Agreements, by stressing resource conservation and environmental sustainability in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of partner countries. For instance: European vessels must possess authorization to fish in waters in accordance with partnership agreements; and they may catch only surplus stock, which can be exploited in a sustainable manner (consistent with the MSY approach) based on scientific assessments provided by scientific committees or RFMOs' recommendations and on information exchanges with partner countries.

There are two types of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) currently in force, tuna agreements and mixed agreements. While tuna agreements allow EU vessels to pursue migrating tuna stocks along the shores of Africa and the Indian Ocean, mixed agreements provide them with access to a wide range of fish stocks in a partner's EEZ. The EU currently has 12 active SFPA protocols in force with non-EU countries (Table 4.18). Additionally, the EU has nine dormant bilateral agreements without a protocol in force with Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Kiribati, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mozambique, and Solomon Islands. This implies that EU vessels are not allowed to carry out fishing activities in waters of these countries.

Sustainable aquaculture is another focus of the new reform. Under the new CFP, the Commission establishes non-binding strategic guidelines on common priorities and targets for the development of sustainable aquaculture activities. These guidelines focus on four areas: simplifying administration procedures; securing sustainable development and growth of aquaculture through coordinated spatial planning; increasing the competitiveness of EU aquaculture; and promoting the EU's high quality and environmental standards.

In accordance with the new CFP, the member States developed multi-annual plans for the development of sustainable aquaculture within their territories in 2014-15 which address the four priorities identified in the Strategic Guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture and proposed concrete actions to address them.