Seas At Risk together with 18 other NGOs signed the recommendations on the setting of fishing opportunities for 2024, including the stocks managed by the European Union alone and stocks shared with third countries like the United Kingdom and Norway.
Overfishing and destructive fishing practices have been the main cause of marine biodiversity loss for the last 40 years. They also critically undermine the resilience of fish, crustaceans, corals, seabirds, marine mammals, and other wildlife to the impacts of climate change, as well as undermining their capacity to mitigate the latter.
Despite the reduction in overfishing brought about by the Common Fisheries Policy in the Northeast Atlantic during the last decade, the EU still missed the legal deadline to end overfishing and harvest all stocks sustainably by 2020 at the latest.
In light of the current biodiversity and climate crises, it is imperative to rebuild all fish populations well above productive levels in order to enable them to cope with and mitigate mounting pressures. Thus, NGOs urge policy makers to invest in the resilience of fish populations and ecosystems by fishing well below scientific advice.
Posted on: 19 September 2023
