Decades of intensive fishing in European waters have led to dramatic declines in once abundant fish populations. Currently, 88 percent of all assessed fish stocks are estimated to be over-exploited. Almost a third of all assessed stocks are being fished beyond safe biological limits, threatening their very future.

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.

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.