OCEAN2012>The issue

European fisheries in crisis

European fisheries in crisis

Decades of intensive fishing in European waters have led to dramatic declines in once abundant fish populations. According to the latest figures from the European Commission, 72 per cent of assessed fish stocks in European waters are overfished. 59 per cent of stocks for which the state is known, are at high risk of depletion (outside safe biological limits). For 14 per cent of the stocks there is “Emergency” scientific advice to stop fishing.

Sardine fishing in Vigo

This continuous overfishing has resulted in less productive fisheries with a gradual loss of jobs and livelihoods. Fewer and smaller fish are being caught and greater effort is required to find them, often resulting in the targeting of other, and sometimes even more vulnerable species. It is not just that there is overfishing but also that some environmentally harmful fishing methods are used.

72 per cent of assessed fish stocks in European waters are overfished. 59 per cent of stocks for which the state is known are outside safe biological limits.

 
 

European Commission

 

 

Since its start in 1983, the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has failed to prevent overfishing. Over 25 years, short-term economic interest and political expediency has landed European fisheries in deep crisis. A broad CFP reform now provides an opportunity to make European fisheries economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. There is a need to finally end overfishing and destructive fishing practices, delivering fair and equitable use of resources for future generations.

Through other EU legislation, Member States are already calling for this, for example the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSD) aims to achieve Good Environmental Status in Europe's seas:

  • ensuring populations of fish and shellfish are within safe biological limits;
  • ensuring all elements of marine food webs … occur at … levels capable of ensuring the long-term abundance of the species and the retention of their full reproductive capacity.

A radical reform of the CFP and its implementation is necessary to achieve these targets.

 

Fish facts: the reality of overfishing

  • North Sea cod reach spawning age at around four years. In 2009, the average age of cod caught in the North Sea was 1.6 years, with a mean weight of less than a kilo. Scientific estimates suggest 93 per cent of the North Sea cod are caught before they can reproduce.
  • Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the biggest and fastest ocean predators, is facing the threat of commercial extinction through overfishing. Despite this, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the body responsible for managing the tuna population and deciding on catch levels, set quotas for 2009 at 47 per cent higher than scientists recommended.
  • Approximately 14 per cent of EU fish stocks are in such bad state that scientists advise that there should be no fishing. The state of a further 59 per cent is unknown.
  • In 2006 the EU reliance on imports for fishery products was estimated to be 48.2 per cent.
  • Between 1995 and 2004 total catches by the EC-15 countries decreased by 27 per cent, from 7.2 to 5.2 million tonnes.
  • Discard rates in European fisheries are to up to 70-90 percent of the fish caught in some trawl fisheries. On average 44 percent of the catch in the North Sea shrimp trawl fisheries is thrown back into the sea, in most cases dead.
  • Some species are particularly vulnerable to overfishing. This is particularly true for fish with slow growth and late maturity, including most deep sea species, sharks and rays. Almost a third of evaluated shark species in European waters are classified as threatened or at risk by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

 

 

Print
Quicklinks

Copyright © OCEAN2012