The waters around Europe are being increasingly depleted of their marine resources because of overfishing. This is threatening not only ecosystems, but also the fishing sector and local communities.

At the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 29 June, ministers had an exchange of views on the future reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The focus will be on sustainability: environmental, economic and social.

The fishing industry is essential to supplying food to Europeans and plays a major role in the European economy but the sector is currently going through a deep crisis. European fish stocks have been overfished for decades and the fishing fleets remain too large for the resources available, making parts of these fleets economically unviable. 30% of the stocks are below safe biological limits, which means that they may not be able to replenish.

The outcome has been a continuous decrease in the amount of seafood fished from Europe’s waters: more than half of the fish consumed on the European market is now imported. The volatility of oil prices and the financial crisis have also contributed to the difficulties of the fishing sector.

In order to tackle this situation, ministers discussed several options developed within the reform of the European fisheries policy. They include better instruments and controls to manage fish stocks and the recognition of local communities living from fishing on the coast.