Article 2(2): Interpreting the MSY Objective in the CFP

The main objective contained in Article 2(2) of the new CFP is the restoration and/or maintenance of populations of harvested species above MSY levels. This aim is to be achieved by setting the correct exploitation rate - the tool to achieve the objective - and allocating fishing opportunities for stocks below their corresponding FMSY, as no other approach would permit the objective to be reached. This approach is necessary to ensure fisheries are sustainable and profitable, and to comply with EU environmental legislation, as well as with international law principles.

All future fisheries measures, and all actions undertaken by EU and Member State institutions, must serve to deliver these objectives, complying with the requirement to set fishing levels below FMSY and aimed at achieving stock levels above BMSY. Any measures that take a different approach will be in breach of the CFP, i.e. unlawful.