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Data extracted in September 2016, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: September 2017.
Figure 1: Fishing fleet, total power, 2015 (1)
(thousand kW)
Source: Eurostat (fish_fleet_gp)
Figure 2: Fishing fleet, total tonnage, 2015 (1)
(thousand GT)
Source: Eurostat (fish_fleet_gp)
Table 1: Total catches in selected fishing regions, 2005–2015 (1)
(thousand tonnes live weight)
Source: Eurostat (fish_ca_main)
Figure 3: Catches by fishing region, EU-28, 2015 (1)
(%, based on tonnes)
Source: Eurostat (fish_ca_main)
Table 2: Aquaculture production, 2004–2014 (1)
(thousand tonnes live weight)
Source: Eurostat (fish_aq_q) and (fish_aq_2a)

This article gives an overview of recent statistics relating to fishing fleets, fish catches and aquaculture production in the European Union (EU). Fish are a natural, biological, mobile (sometimes over wide distances) and renewable resource. Aside from fish farming, fish cannot be owned until they have been caught. For this reason, fish stocks continue to be regarded as a common resource, which needs to be managed collectively. This has led to a range of policies that regulate the amount of fishing that is conducted in EU waters, as well as the types of fishing techniques and gear used in fish capture.

Main statistical findings

Fishing fleet

The EU-28's fishing fleet in 2015 had a combined capacity of 1.6 million gross tonnes and a total engine power of 6.4 million kilowatts (kW). By far, the largest fishing fleets among the EU Member States, in terms of power, were those from France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. In 2015, the fishing fleets of each of these countries had a total power of between 0.8 million kW and 1.0 million kW. In terms of gross tonnage (an indicator of fish-holding capacity), however, the Spanish fishing fleet was by far the largest (343 thousand gross tonnes); this was close to twice as high as the next largest fleet, that of the United Kingdom (188 thousand gross tonnes), which was followed by France (172 thousand gross tonnes), Italy (158 thousand gross tonnes) and the Netherlands (127 thousand gross tonnes); none of the remaining EU Member States had a fleet of more than 100 thousand gross tonnes— see Figures 1 and 2.

Catches

Having peaked in 1995 at 7.6 million tonnes of live weight, the total EU-28 catch (calculated as the sum of catches in the seven regions for which statistics are covered by EU legal acts and shown in Table 1) fell almost every year until 2007. Thereafter, the weight of EU-28 catches was relatively stable up until 2013, with a marked jump in 2014 (up 11.5 %). A smaller reduction followed in 2015 (-5.0 %), with total EU-28 catch amounting to 5.1 million tonnes. This volume was 7.0 % less than 10 years earlier and approximately one third lower than in 1995.

Total catches by the fishing fleets of Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom and France accounted for a bit more than half (58.1 %) of all the catches made by the fishing fleets of the EU Member States in 2015, their second highest combined share for the years shown in Table 1, just lower than in 2014 (58.5 %). Among the 23 EU Member States having a maritime fishing fleet, 14 reported a decline in their total catch when comparing the results for 2015 with the situation some 10 years earlier. Among those with a catch of at least 100 thousand tonnes live weight in 2005, double-digit reductions in the weight of catch between 2005 and 2015 were recorded in Ireland (-12.1 %), France (-15.1 %), Portugal (-15.4 %), Sweden (-20.4 %), the Netherlands (-33.3 %), Italy (-35.0 %), Latvia (-45.9 %) and Lithuania (-70.1 %). By contrast, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom were the only countries with a catch of at least 100 thousand tonnes in 2005, to record an increase over the whole period, with gains of 42.3 %, 25.8 % and 5.5 % respectively. For comparison, during the same period of time, the Icelandic catch fell by 20.7 % while that in Norway fell by 10.3 %. In 2015, the combined Icelandic and Norwegian catch was equivalent to two thirds of the EU-28 catch, a ratio that was 6.0 percentage points lower than it had been 10 years earlier.

Some 77.4 % of the catches made by the EU-28 in 2015 were in the north-east Atlantic, with the Mediterranean and Black Sea the second largest fishing area (8.4 %), followed by the eastern central Atlantic area (4.8 %) — see Figure 3.

Aquaculture

The EU-28 had a stable output of aquaculture products during the 2004 to 20014 reference period, with a production volume fluctuating around 1.2 - 1.3 million tonnes life weight. The lowest volume was 1.18 million tonnes recorded in 2013 and the highest 1.33 million tonnes recorded in 2004. In contrast to the EU-28 Member States, for which hardly any trend of an increasing or decreasing production can be identified over the 11 years, Norway has systematically built up its aquaculture production capacity reaching a production of 1.33 million tonnes in 2014 (from 0.68 million tonnes in 2004). Likewise Turkey shows a steady increase in production volume with an output of 234 thousand tonnes in 2014, which is larger than the second largest production among EU Member States. The five largest aquaculture producers among the EU Member States in 2014 were Spain (285 thousand tonnes), the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Greece, which together accounted for three quarters of the EU-28 total; none of the other EU Member States reported a level of production above 100 thousand tonnes of live weight.

Slightly more than half of the total EU production volume in 2014 was finfish, followed by molluscs. The production of crustaceans and seaweeds is rather minor in the EU. By far the largest part of finfish is produced in sea water. As regards individual species, most countries concentrate on a few species only, with minor productions of some other species. Spain, for example, consisted to 77 % of Mediterranean mussel in 2014, which made it by far the largest EU producer of this species. France specialises on Pacific cupped oyster and Blue mussel, which together accounted for more than two thirds of the total national production. Malta's 2014 aquaculture production concentrated to 63 % on Bluefin tuna fattening and to 31 % on Gilthead seabream. The UK, with 179 thousand tonnes in 2014 accounting for roughly 95 % of Atlantic salmon produced in the EU, owed 84 % of its total aquaculture production to this species. Atlantic salmon makes up 95 % of Norway's total aquaculture volume in 2014, which is more than 7 times the UK's quantity of the same fish.

Data sources and availability

Fishery statistics are collected from official national sources directly by Eurostat for the members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Turkey. The data are collected using internationally agreed concepts and definitions developed by the Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics (CWP), comprising Eurostat and several other international organisations with responsibilities in fishery statistics. The flag of the fishing vessel is used as the primary indication of the nationality of the catch, though this concept may vary in certain circumstances.

In general, the data refer to the fishing fleet size on 31 December of the reference year. The data are derived from national registers of fishing vessels which are maintained pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 26/2004 which contains information on the vessel characteristics — the administrative file of fishing vessels is maintained by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

There has been a transition in measuring the tonnage of the fishing fleet from gross registered tonnage (GRT) to that of gross tonnage (GT). This change, which has taken place at different speeds within the national administrations, gives rise to the possibility of non-comparability of data over time and of non-comparability between countries.

Catches of fishery products include items taken for all purposes (commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence) by all types and classes of fishing units operating in inshore, offshore and in high-seas fishing areas. The flag of the fishing vessel is used as the primary indication of the nationality of the catch. The catch is normally expressed in live weight and derived by the application of conversion factors to the landed or product weight. As such, catch statistics exclude quantities which are caught and taken from the water (that is, before processing) but which, for a variety of reasons, are not landed.

The data presented in this article for the total catch refer to seven geographical fishing areas. These are the following Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) major fishing areas:

  • 21 — Atlantic, Northwest which is roughly the area to the west of longitude 42° West and north of latitude 35° North;
  • 27 — Atlantic, Northeast which is roughly the area to the east of longitude 42° West and north of latitude 36° North, including the waters of the Baltic Sea;
  • 34 — Atlantic, Eastern Central which is the region to the east of longitude 40° West between latitudes 36° North and 6° South;
  • 37 — Mediterranean and Black Sea which comprises the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Black Sea;
  • 41 — Atlantic, Southwest which is roughly the area to the west of longitude 20° West and between 5° North and 50° South of latitude;
  • 47 — Atlantic, Southeast which is roughly the area to the east of longitude 20° West and between 6° South and 50° South of latitude;
  • 51 — Indian Ocean, Western which is roughly the area to the west of longitude 80° East and North of latitude 45° South.

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic (freshwater or saltwater) organisms — including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants — for human use or consumption. Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding and protection from predators. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of, or rights resulting from contractual arrangements to, the stock being cultivated.

Context

The first common European policy measures in the fishing sector date from 1970. They set rules for access to fishing grounds, markets and structures. All these measures became more significant when, in 1976, the EU Member States followed an international movement and agreed to extend their rights to marine resources from 12 to 200 miles from their coasts.

After years of difficult negotiations, the common fisheries policy (CFP), the EU’s instrument for the management of fisheries and aquaculture, was born in 1983. The CFP sets maximum quantities of fish that can be safely caught every year: the total allowable catch (TAC). Each country’s share is called a national quota.

The CFP was reformed in 2002 to deal with the environmental, economic and social dimensions of fishing. The 2002 reform identified the need to limit fishing efforts, the level of catches, and to enforce certain technical measures. To ensure sustainable fishing, it is not only the quantity of fish taken from the sea that is important, but also their species, size, and the techniques used in catching them, as well as the areas where they are caught.

The CFP was considered, by many, to be in need of further reform, essentially because of the depletion of fish stocks, the overall threat to the marine ecosystem and the resulting impact on the fishing industry and dependent communities. The latest reforms of the CFP were adopted in December 2013 and became effective on 1 January 2014. The legislative package included three Regulations concerning:

The CFP aims to ensure that fishing and aquaculture are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable and that they provide a source of healthy food for EU citizens. Its goal is to foster a dynamic fishing industry and to ensure a fair standard of living for fishing communities. The CFP has four main policy areas:

The current fisheries policy stipulates that between 2015 and 2020 catch limits should be set that are sustainable and maintain fish stocks in the long term.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Catches in all fishing regions (tag00076)
Catches in the north-west Atlantic (tag00079)
Catches in the north-east Atlantic (tag00078)
Catches in the eastern central Atlantic (tag00080)
Catches in the Mediterranean (tag00081)
Aquaculture production in tonnes and value (tag00075)
Fishing fleet, total engine power (tsdnr420)
Fishing fleet, Total tonnage (tag00083)
Fishing Fleet, Number of Vessels (tag00116)

Database

Catches by fishing area (fish_ca)
Aquaculture production by species (fish_aq)
Landings of fishery products (fish_ld)
Fishing fleet (fish_fleet)

Dedicated section

Fisheries

Methodology / Metadata

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Other information

Catch statistics:

  • Regulation 216/2009 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in certain areas other than those of the North Atlantic
  • Regulation 217/2009 on the submission of catch and activity statistics by Member States fishing in the North-West Atlantic
  • Regulation 218/2009 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in the north-east Atlantic

Aquaculture:

  • Regulations 788/96 and 762/2008 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture production

Landings:

Fishing fleet:

External links


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