Brussels, 14/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Over the course of the coming weeks, a number of EU member states will reach their fish dependence day - that is, the day in the year beyond which they become theoretically dependent on fisheries products from extra-Community waters - according to a report published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and OCEAN2012 on 13 June.
The report, Fish Dependence: The increasing reliance of the EU on fish from elsewhere, reveals the extent to which EU member states import fish while exporting and/or encouraging overfishing.
The report shows that France begins to depend on imports of fish from 13 June. For some other countries, the situation is worse: Spain - 8 May; Portugal - 26 April; Germany - 27 April; and Italy - 30 April. The report, according to its co-author Rupert Crilly, shows how EU member states are now taking fish from outside their borders rather than looking for ways to restore the health of their own fish stocks. Consuming more fish than EU waters can produce, he goes on, is playing with the future of stocks and of communities which depend on fishing. Jobs, he argues further, are being put at risk. (L.C./transl.rt)