The New Economics Foundation (NEF) says that its new research reveals that some EU ministers have consistently agreed to set fishing limits above scientific advice, leading to billions in lost economic potential.
NEF said that these revelations, published in the Marine Policy academic journal, show how dangerous levels of overfishing have been permitted in European waters over the last 15 years.
Griffin Carpenter, Economic Modeller at NEF and co-author of the research, said: “There is a lack of transparency around these closed-door negotiations but we can see from the results that some EU Member States are negotiating much higher levels of quota above scientific advice.”
“Pressure should be placed on these Member States to recognise the benefits of following scientific advice and managing marine ecosystems in a sustainable manner.”
The Landing the Blame research shows, among other things, that Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands top the overfishing league table and have negotiated the largest increase to their fishing quota, exceeding scientific advice by 37%, 37% and 26% respectively.
But despite the bad news, improvements are being made. The amount of quota set above advice has declined from 33% in 2001 to 7% in 2015, but 30 quotas were still set at least 50% above guidance in 2014.
In fact from 2001 to 2015, seven out of every 10 fishing quotas was set on average at least 20% above the recommended levels set by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).
EU Ministers will have yet another opportunity to halt this 15-year trend in overfishing when they meet on 14 and 15 December to negotiate 2016 fishing quotas.
