Press Release: Commission: reduction of EU fleet capacity too slow to achieve required cuts in fishing effort

The Commission tabled a report based on the most recent annual reports provided by the Member States on their fleets, together with data from the EU Fishing Fleet register. The Commission concludes that, in general, the quality of the reports from the Member States is not satisfactory and, as a result, does not allow it to draw clear conclusions as regards the overcapacity of the EU fleet relative to available resources. Nominal capacity continued to decline in 2006 at the slow but steady rate of between 2 and 3% annually. However, this is too little, given the big reductions in fishing effort required for the sustainable management of several key commercial fish stocks. Moreover, much of this reduction is more than compensated for by the technological improvements which make it possible to catch more fish per unit of effort. The impact of fishing effort limitations on capacity reduction appears to have been low, and more work is needed to ensure that the right incentives are in place at national level.