Undercurrent: NGO outcry as latest EU report shows little improvement in ending overfishing

                                 

NGO outcry as latest EU report shows little improvement in ending overfishing

 

Undercurrent 12 April 2019:

NGO outcry as latest EU report shows little improvement in ending overfishing

Environmental NGOs have decried a new European Commission report, claiming it shows species such as sardine, hake, and cod could suffer commercial extinctions in European waters in the short term.

The 2019 report by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) led Oceana to state that overfishing is “plaguing EU seas”. Around 40% of Atlantic stocks and 87% of Mediterranean ones are found to be fished unsustainably, it said.

“As the 2020 deadline for ending overfishing is fast approaching, scientists confirm, with just months to go, the EU countries are still nowhere near reaching the legal obligation of the common fisheries policy (CFP).”

Rebecca Hubbard, program director at Our Fish, noted the EU’s own legally binding deadline for achieving sustainable fishing levels for all fished stocks is just around the corner, “but still 41% of the assessed stocks in the Northeast Atlantic are subject to overfishing”.

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