Report | June 11, 2015
Deep-sea fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic. Recommendations for improved management. February 2013
Unsustainable deep‐sea fisheries
Deep‐sea fisheries management in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean has become an issue of serious concern. During the past few decades, fishing activities have increased dramatically in deeper waters, with significant impacts on marine species and ecosystems. Most exploited deep‐sea stocks are currently fished more heavily than is sustainable1 , which is particularly worrying because these species are known to be highly vulnerable to overfishing2,3 as a result of their biological characteristics such as slow growth, delayed maturity, low productivity, and long lifespans4,5,6. In addition, deep‐sea fisheries also have significant impacts on wider marine ecosystems. Deep‐sea fishing gears such as bottom trawls and gillnets are associated with high levels of by‐catch of non‐target species, and also cause significant physical damage to vulnerable marine ecosystems such as fragile cold‐water coral reefs and sponges7.
Regulation (EC) 2347/2002, which establishes the conditions for deep‐sea fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic, has failed to address these problems and is currently being revised to improve the management of deep‐sea stocks, reduce the environmental impact of these fisheries and improve the information base for scientific assessment. In addition, this regulation must also integrate the international commitments made by the EU and other nations through United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 61/105 and 64/72. These resolutions called upon flag states to:
- implement conservation and management measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from fishing impacts; and
- ensure the long‐term sustainability of deep‐sea fish stocks.
Such measures are currently only reflected in Regulation (EC) 734/2008 on the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the high seas from the adverse impacts of bottom fishing gears, but they do not yet apply to EU vessels within Union waters or the regulatory area of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC). The revision of (EC) 2347/2002 therefore provides an important opportunity for improving the sustainability of EU deep‐sea fisheries, consistent with existing EU policy and international commitments.
