Paving the way for low-impact fisheries
The climate crisis necessitates all sectors to decarbonise, and the EU’s energy transition initiative can improve the sustainability, economic profitability, and resilience of the fisheries sector in Europe.
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Defending the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy
The CFP is the framework regulation for the management of EU fisheries, with the purpose of ensuring that fishing activities are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.
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Securing Sustainable Fisheries Management
Oceana advocates for managing fisheries sustainably, through setting fishing limits based on science and protecting marine ecosystems from the impacts of fishing, including by drastically reducing by-catch.
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Sustainable Fisheries
Fishing is one of the greatest threats to our ocean, impacting the status of fish populations and bycatch species, as well as the habitats that marine life depends on. Around 30% of North-East Atlantic and 80% of Mediterranean fish stocks are subject to overfishing. Strong, science-based regulation has been shown to allow stocks to recover, engender higher yields and provide substantial social, economic, and ecological benefits. Oceana works to ensure that fishing ceases to be a threat to our ocean and becomes a truly sustainable activity.
Most of Europe’s fish populations are either overfished, or fished to their maximum sustainable yield (MSY).
Setting and enforcing science-based limits to govern how much fish can be taken out of the seas has been shown, time and again, to allow fish populations to remain healthy and, in many cases, dramatically increase in size. As a result of implementation of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), fishing mortality in the European Atlantic has fallen and the number of stocks exploited at sustainable (MSY) levels increased from 16 in 2005 to 54 in 2020.
This improvement shows that firm regulation, based on scientific advice, can deliver ecological and, with it, socio-economic results.
Oceana campaigns to defend progress made under the CFP and ensure European fish stocks are rebuilt, by advocating for science-based fishing limits and other fisheries management measures.
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement now regulates the management of more than 75 shared fish stocks, as well as the fishing rights of the EU fleet in UK waters, and vice versa. A recent audit by Oceana found that 6 out of 10 UK fish stocks, including economically important cod, herring and scallops, are being overfished and/or are in a critical state. Oceana is campaigning to ensure that new fisheries policies developed as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU maintain commercial stocks, including shared stocks, at sustainable levels.
Accomplishments
May, 2023
European Commission Releases Public Database Disclosing Activities of EU Vessels Fishing Outside of EU Waters
December, 2022
German and Dutch Marine Protected Areas Closed to Destructive Fishing Gear
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August 11, 2023

July 25, 2023
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