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Fisheries Policy | 29 July 2020

NGO recommendations for deep‐sea fishing limits 2021‐2022
Fisheries Policy
Wildlife & habitats

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NGO recommendations for deep‐sea fishing limits 2021‐2022

These joint NGO recommendations to the European Commission and the Council of fisheries ministers, for deep-sea fishing limits 2021-2022, were co-signed by ClientEarth, Pew Charitable Trusts, Oceana, Seas At Risk, Fisheries Secretariat and Our Fish. In this document, we highlight shortcomings in the current management of these vulnerable stocks, and jointly call on EU decision-makers to set sustainable fishing limits in line with the requirements and objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), in order to restore and maintain fish populations above biomass levels capable of producing the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). This is particularly crucial since the CFP’s legal MSY deadline for ending overfishing by 2020 passed this year and must therefore be respected when setting fishing opportunities for 2021 and beyond.

In particular, we provide specific recommendations regarding the implementation of the precautionary approach to fisheries management, advise strongly against the removal of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) which risks unsustainable exploitation, and provide concrete suggestions for a number of stocks like orange roughy, roundnose and roughhead grenadier, red (/blackspot) seabream and deep-sea sharks.

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Find other files produced or co-signed by ClientEarth related to the annual negotiations on fishing opportunities from 2015 onwards here.