EU Fishing in Crisis : Politicians are wilfully breaking the law
We provide here a series of reports, principally written by the New Economics Foundation, which demonstrate that in the years since CFP reform in 2014 (i.e. in 2015 and 2016) EU Fisheries Ministers have been setting catch levels for many of the commercial fish stocks in the Baltic and Northern European seas which are clearly greater than the safe levels recommended by the scientists at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). These excessive catch levels breach CFP legal obligations, and place both the restoration of fish stocks and the ecological future of the Baltic and Northern European seas in serious jeopardy.
● NEF Report, Landing the blame — overfishing in Northern European waters (2015 TAC catch levels). This report provides the data for 2015 which shows that of 96 commercial fish stocks in Northern European seas, 60 received TAC catch levels beyond scientific advice, and only 30 stocks received TACs in accordance (or below) scientific recommendations. To see document, Click Here
● NEF Report, Landing the blame — overfishing in deep-sea waters (2015 TAC catch levels). This report provides the data for 2015 which shows that of 16 deep sea fish stocks in EU seas, 11 received TAC catch levels beyond scientific advice, and only 5 in accordance (or below) scientific recommendations. To see the document, Click Here
● NEF Report, Landing the blame — overfishing in the Baltic Sea (2015 TAC catch levels). This report provides the data for 2015 which shows that of the 10 commercial fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, 5 received TAC catch levels beyond scientific advice, and 5 stocks received TACs in accordance (or below) scientific recommendations. To see document, Click Here
● NEF, Landing the blame: overfishing in the Baltic Sea 2016, (2016 TAC catch levels): This report provides the data for 2016 which shows that of the 10 commercial fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, 8 received TAC catch levels beyond scientific advice, and only 2 stocks received TACs in accordance (or below) scientific recommendations. To see document, Click Here
● NEF Blog, November 2015, Who’s allowing overfishing in the Baltic Sea? This New Economics Foundation blog article reports on the background issues surrounding the EU Fisheries Council decision in October 2015 to set TAC catch levels in the Baltic Sea for 2016 which exceed scientific advice in 8 out of 10 commercial stocks. To see the NEF blog document, click here
www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/whos-allowing-overfishing-in-the-baltic-sea
● Greenpeace, The good, the bad and the ugly: a ranking of EU countries’ progress to achieve sustainable fishing (2015 TAC catch levels): Based on the NEF data for TAC catch levels during 2015 in Northern European seas, this Greenpeace report seeks to identify which countries are most at fault with regard to allowing fishing at levels beyond scientific advice. To see the Greenpeace report, click here
www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2015/EU-countries-fail-to-promote-low-impact-fishing
● Greenpeace Methodology, a ranking of EU countries’ progress to achieve sustainable fishing (2015 TAC catch levels): This document explains the methodology which Greenpeace used to determine the ranking of EU countries in achieving or breaching sustainable fishing levels in 2015. To see the document, Click Here
