Fisheries

Decades of intensive fishing in European waters have led to dramatic declines in once abundant fish populations. Currently. 88 per cent of all assessed fish stocks are estimated to be over-expoited. 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 by 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.

nef is a founding member of the OCEAN2012 coalition: an alliance of organisations dedicated to transforming the Common Fisheries Policy when it comes under reform in 2012. We believe that healthy oceans with abundant fish and wildlife are not only good for our planet, but good for human well-being and economic prosperity as well.