25/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 24 July, the European statistical office, Eurostat, published data which reveal that the number of fishing vessels in the EU25 fell by 1.65% between 2005 (when there were 88,467 vessels) and 2006 (87,004 vessels). The EU fishing fleet lost 3% in tonnage between 2005 and 2006, and, in terms of engine capacity, there was a 2.29% drop. The statistics also confirm that Greece has the largest number of fishing vessels in the EU (18,045 in 2006, or 21% of the EU fleet), ahead of Italy (16%) and Spain. Spain is top in terms of tonnage (25% of the EU fleet), ahead of three countries, France, Italy and the United Kingdom (each with 11% of the total fleet). (lc)