Oceana: EU, UK fishing deal puts stocks at risk

The NGO said the constant pressure on stocks threatens whole marine ecosystems as well as the fishing industry itself, and with the current environmental crises the need for sustainable catch limits has never been more urgent. But it warned that in the agreement for 2024’s 71 catch limits for shared fish populations, the UK and the EU have “continued to ignore scientific advice for a significant proportion of fish populations”.

Oceana advised that preliminary analysis of the latest agreement indicates than there has been no breakthrough in terms of increasing the number of catch limits in line with scientific advice compared to previous years, with many severely depleted populations remaining at grave risk.

“Yet again, where is the ‘gold standard’ of fisheries management that our government claims to be striving for? As the worrying outcome of these catch negotiations show, we are struggling to reach bronze standard, or even make it to the podium at all,” Oceana UK Executive Director Hugo Tagholm said.

“These piecemeal adjustments – one step forwards, two steps back – threaten our ability to safeguard our seas, our fish populations and our coastal communities. The simple fact is that the EU and UK could end overfishing tomorrow by following independent scientific advice and setting sustainable limits. We should seize the opportunity to let our seas bounce back to thriving good health, rather than playing a shameful part in their destruction.”

Oceana pointed to a report published this year by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries of the European Commission that found 26% of Northeast Atlantic fish populations are still overfished, while a report from UK government advisors, the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) identified that only 40% of UK catch limits were set in line with scientific advice in 2023.

The organisation also highlighted that some fish populations in the region have been depleted to perilously low levels, such as Irish Sea whiting or Western English Channel and Southern Celtic Seas cod, which are at just 7% and 13% of their sustainable population size.

It added that it “deplores” that for these stocks, and others such as Western red seabream, Irish Sea cod, Celtic Sea herring and Western horse mackerel, for which an immediate halt to exploitation is recommended – “zero catch” – both parties agreed they would not reduce their catches, but continue with the unsustainable 2023 catch limit.

As well as endangering marine wildlife and the fishing industry itself, overfishing also exacerbates the climate crisis by removing fish that play a vital role in the “carbon pump” that helps marine ecosystems capture and store atmospheric carbon, Oceana said.