Global assessment of the European Union fishing fleet: An update

This paper provides a global analysis of recent trends in the EU fishing fleet. Analysis of the capital productivity, labour rates, and economic benefits of the fleet revealed that considerable replacement of fishermen by better technology and well-equipped vessels occurred between 1990 and 2006. The analysis confirms that the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been ineffective in reducing fishing capacity. In addition, the changes in capacity that occurred in this time interval differed among the different sectors of the fleet. Some members of the high sea fishing fleet increased their capacity (range 11–57%), and the deep-sea sector, which has greater tonnage and fishing power, increased its fishing capacity by 34–44%. These results confirm the ineffectiveness of the CFP in reducing overcapacity and illustrate the continuing threat of overcapacity to the long-term sustainability of fishery resources.