Rebuilding EU fish stocks and fisheries, a process under way?

We analysed the development of the status of 41 commercially exploited fish stocks from the North East Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea (FAO Area 27) and the economic performance of the fleets exploiting those stocks. The analyses indicate that the exploitation status for many of the stocks has greatly improved during the last 10 years and while the economic performance of the fleets over the same period has been highly variable, the main economic indicators (gross value added (GVA) and gross cash flow (GCF)) have gradually improved at a time when the general economic situation, which has a great influence on the markets and purchase power, has worsened. While recognising that much remains to be done to achieve the objective of the WSSD, our analyses indicate that actions implemented in the last decade under the CFP have led to an improvement in the status of many commercially important fish stocks and their fleets towards levels that are capable of producing MSY.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair