Fixing Europe's Fisheries

What’s needs fixing?

The Common Fisheries Policy was designed to not only ensure that each country has fair access to fishing grounds, but also to protect fish stocks from overfishing. It has utterly failed. Today, according to the European Commission, 3 out of 4 fish stocks are overfished, and we're on course for over 90% to be at unsustainable levels in a decade.

Illegal fishing is considered one of the most serious threats to the sustainable management of fish.  Our investigations showed how a prominent network of  industrial scale operators in the Spanish fishing fleet have been funding their illegal fishing activities with European subsidies for years - at times seemingly in full knowledge of the Spanish authorities

These illegal practices can continue because  the CFP has been hijacked by the vested interests of countries such as Spain, who put the profits of their industrial scale fishing fleets over the health of Europe’s seas.  The CFP has been corrupted.

How do we fix it?

Europe’s bloated fishing fleet must be slimmed down. It is currently 2 to 3 times bigger than what is sustainable. And Europe’s politicians - who set fishing levels - must keep to the limits that their own scientists recommend. Further, we need to give fishermen incentives to fish sustainably, and to ensure the livelihoods of Europe’s more sustainable small scale artisinal fishermen.

Between now and January 2013 – the timeline for reform - we will be campaigning to expose organised crime and illegal fishing, the destructive practices of Europe’s deep sea trawlers, and the devastating impacts of the EU’s distant water fleet on the rest of the world.  We will also be supporting sustainable artisanal fishermen in their fight for a fair share. 

How you can help to fix the problem?

Our oceans are in crisis and it’s up to us to fix it.  Take action now and tell our fisheries minister to put a stop to UK taxpayer’s money funding illegal fishing in Spain.