Time’s Up: EU Misses Deadline to End Overfishing

Fisheries ministers fail to set 2020 fishing limits in line with science

Getty Images

The conclusion of the December meeting of the European Union’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council  meeting should have been monumental, with catch limits set that would end overfishing in 2020, fulfilling the aims of the 2013 reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. Instead, as has often been the case in EU fisheries policy in recent decades, ministers failed to live up to their promises.

The limits set by ministers suggest that progress to end overfishing has stalled or even reversed, a disappointing outcome for the year when overfishing was supposed to become a thing of the past.

Despite the legal deadline and other imperatives – many of which were discussed by EU leaders at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid – the EU will overfish several stocks in 2020, with only a vague promise to fish more sustainably in future. Stocks like Celtic Sea cod will be put under heavier fishing pressure than scientists advise, even though their populations are assessed to be at critically low levels.

What happens next is unclear. But the failure to meet the deadline risks damaging public trust in the EU to meet its own targets, leading to finger-pointing between the EU institutions, and worsening the outlook for already-vulnerable stocks and for the productivity of European fisheries.

The EU has a new Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, whose mission is to put fisheries at the heart of the European Green Deal and lead the way on international ocean governance. Accomplishing that requires following scientific advice on fisheries management and adhering to EU law and international commitments.

Despite the missed deadline to end overfishing, 2020 remains an important milestone year for the Commissioner and for the other commitments EU leaders have made on the world stage. Ministers have now made meeting these commitments harder for the EU, reinforcing the short-term governance that has plagued fisheries policy for years.

As the Commissioner and other EU leaders turn their attention to problems more complex than overfishing – namely climate change and threats to biodiversity – fisheries policymakers now must focus urgently on mainstreaming their decisions. And this raises a question: Will fisheries ministers continue to block sustainable policies even as the new Commission starts the decade with a purposeful effort to fix ocean problems? The answer will partly depend upon whether EU institutions can work together to show global leadership, starting with fisheries policies.

This article was updated in December 2019 to improve clarity.

Andrew Clayton directs The Pew Charitable Trusts’ efforts to end overfishing in North-Western Europe.

Fact Sheet

10 Reasons to End Overfishing in Europe

Quick View
Fact Sheet

Management of fisheries in the European Union has improved over the past 15 years, but the fishing limits set by EU fisheries ministers too often exceed the levels advised by scientists. That prevents Europeans from realising many of the benefits of sustainable, productive fish stocks and fisheries.

Video

How to End Overfishing in the EU

Quick View
Video

EU fisheries are in trouble. Currently, nearly 50 per cent of fish stocks are overfished in the North Sea and Northeast Atlantic—and more than 90 per cent in the Mediterranean Sea. We explain the dire consequences for both the European Union economy and marine environment if overfishing continues and lay out a plan of action for how fisheries ministers can end overfishing—and how you can help. Learn more at https://pewtrusts.org/endeuoverfishing.

Article

EU Fisheries Management Improves but Still Lags Behind Scientific Advice

Quick View
Article

After decades of overfishing and ineffective fisheries policies, the European Parliament and the European Union’s 28 Member State governments agreed in 2013 on far-reaching reforms to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).