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This Briefing is part of a joint Briefing Series, co-signed by 29 organisations (including environmental NGOs and recreational representatives), which presents our key recommendations to EU and UK decision-makers regarding the setting of recovery-focused, precautionary and ecosystem-based fishing opportunities.
Achieving sustainability is particularly challenging in mixed fisheries which are at risk of “choking” due to catches of depleted or struggling fish populations if fishing limits follow the (often very low or zero-catch) scientific advice for the latter. The term “choking” means a situation where fisheries have to stop because they run out of quota for less abundant stocks, even though quota for more abundant target stocks are still available. Fisheries that fail to focus on rebuilding depleted stocks become trapped in a vicious cycle of overfishing to avoid short-term quota cuts and closures, thus perpetuating the dire state of stocks caught as bycatch and the “choke” risk they pose. This Briefing highlights that the only truly sustainable way out of this dilemma – both environmentally and socio-economically – is to urgently prioritise the recovery of depleted stocks (also see Briefing 9), by
Related links:
Find all Briefings as part of the Briefing Series “Recommendations to the EU and the UK on the setting of fishing opportunities” here.
Find other files produced or co-signed by ClientEarth related to the annual negotiations on fishing opportunities from 2015 onwards here.