Setúbal: Cetacean bycatch has put Portugal under renewed pressure from Brussels after the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Lisbon in its October 2026 infringement package. The Commission says Portugal has not met its obligations under the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) to protect dolphins and porpoises in its waters.

The case began in November 2023 with a letter of formal notice. The reasoned opinion is the second formal stage, and Portugal normally has two months to respond. If the answer falls short, the Commission can refer the country to the Court of Justice of the EU.

The Habitats Directive strictly protects the species hit by cetacean bycatch. The Commission’s 2023 notice named the common dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin and the harbour porpoise, and it said Portugal had not set up a system to monitor their accidental capture and death in fishing gear. Without such a system, regulators cannot measure how many animals die or decide which fisheries need changes.

The notice also raised a second problem. The Commission said Portugal had not taken the steps needed to avoid significant disturbance of the bottlenose dolphin and the harbour porpoise in several Natura 2000 sites designated to protect them. Those sites are meant to give the animals safe feeding and breeding areas, and the directive expects member states to manage them actively rather than merely list them on a map.

Cetacean bycatch is one of the main threats to small whales and dolphins in European seas. Animals that swim into nets cannot surface to breathe, and the deaths often go unreported when no observers or monitoring tools are in place. The directive therefore treats monitoring as a core duty, not an optional extra.

For Portuguese fishers, the case raises practical questions. Monitoring can involve onboard observers, electronic systems and mitigation devices, and each choice carries costs for small coastal fleets. Conservation groups have criticised Portugal’s record on bycatch, and the Commission’s decision gives that criticism formal EU backing.

The file turns on monitoring and site protection, the two duties the 2023 notice set out for cetacean bycatch. The next move belongs to the Portuguese government, which can answer with a monitoring scheme, observer programmes in the busiest fisheries and clear measures for the protected sites.

Portugal can still avoid a court referral if its reply convinces the Commission that cetacean bycatch is now monitored and that the protected sites are safe from disturbance. The two-month period runs until early December 2026.