Publication - September 1, 2010
One of the biggest threats facing the world’s
oceans today is overfishing. The UN Food &
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that
over 75% of all fish stocks are fully exploited,
overexploited or depleted. In European waters,
the level of overfishing is higher than the global
average, with an estimated 88% of European
fish stocks in a poor state. For some stocks,
particularly predatory fish such as sharks,
tuna and swordfish, the situation is even more
alarming across all oceans, with declines of
90% compared with pre-industrial times.
Author: Farah Obaidullah & Yvette Osinga
Executive summary: Currently, the EU fleet is capable of catching between two and three times its maximum sustainable yield. Despite attempts to cut the size of fishing fleets and reduce pressure on fish stocks, the EU has increased the effective catch capacity in many of its fisheries by an estimated 2 to 4% a year. This increase in pressure on marine resources, coupled with declines in fish stocks across Europe, has meant that EU fishing vessels have moved to distant fishing grounds. Today, the EU’s fishing fleets have a global reach. As a consequence, they are also fishing in waters of some of the poorest nations on Earth, including in West Africa.
Num. pages: 16
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