The European Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) concluded in a report made public in early May that, despite recent progress, many fish stocks remain overexploited or outside safe biological limits.
According to the STECF report on the performance of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), 38% of stocks in the Atlantic and 92% in the Mediterranean were estimated to be overfished in 2018. STECF notes that biomass has increased by 50% in the past ten years.
The CFP will revise the achievement of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) objectives for the management of fish stocks by 2020 at the latest.
Daniel Voces, from the European organisation Europêche, notes that the news is good concerning sustainable fisheries. “The majority of fish stocks in the North-East Atlantic are healthy and thriving. That’s thanks to many years of sacrifices and intensive collaboration with scientists and public authorities to improve fishing practices and fisheries management. Overfishing in the EU is at an all-time low”.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/2SHjQCw (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)