Demand for fish in the UK has already matched the supply its waters can produce for the year, leading to a reliance on imported cod and haddock.
According to research provided by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and OCEAN2012, UK fish stocks will run out by 21 August 2012,
This is much later than some other EU countries however. France, Germany and Italy’s stocks usually end on 21 May, 20 April and 21 April respectively.
Rupert Crilly, NEF, said: “Our cod and haddock stocks could deliver five and three times (respectively) more catches with better management.” Both groups say that although current UK fish stocks can only meet public demand for 233 days a year, demand could be met if the stocks were given time to recover, leading to less reliance on imported fish.
Overfishing in the UK means that one in three fish eaten will need to be imported from overseas, from as far afield as China. Earlier in the year, NEF published a report entitled Jobs Lost at Sea which found that if UK fish stocks returned to their maximum yield, additional catch would increase by 467, 292 tonnes per annum - more than 1.6 times the current import deficit.
OCEAN2012 and nef hope to reform the Common Fisheries Policy in an attempt to reduce fishing capacity to bring it in-line with available resources in the EU and UK.
