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Quaterly bulletin on a research funding in the field on water protection

Fish stocks in the North and West of Europe are recovering, but there are still serious problems of overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea. That's the key message Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, passes in this year's report on the state of fish stocks and the preparation of setting next years' fish quotas.

For the first time, the Commission could take into account scientific advice for the state of the stocks in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

The fish stock data for the Mediterranean show a dismal picture: 96% or more of the Mediterranean bottom-living fish are overfished, and for the middle-water stocks like sardine and anchovy the figure is 71% or more. For the Black Sea, all bottom-living fish and 33% of pelagic stocks are overfished.

But there is good news elsewhere, as in the Northeast Atlantic area, and that includes the Baltic and North Seas, overfishing has fallen from 86% (30 stocks overfished out of 35 assessed) in 2009 to 41% (19 out of 46 stocks) in 2014.

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ISPRA
Technical Periodicals
PRUE
3/2014
2037-4070