Status of marine fish and shellfish stocks in European seas

Long-term heavy fishing pressure threatens Europe’s marine environment, biodiversity and food security. The EU takes an integrated approach to restoring healthy fish populations and ensuring their sustainable use. Management efforts under the Common Fisheries Policy have led to some stock recovery in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, while progress has been slower in other regional seas. The state of stocks is especially critical in the Mediterranean and Black seas where none of the assessed units were in good state based on both criteria considered. Further concerted actions, along with better monitoring and more timely and comprehensive data, are urgently needed to achieve sustainable fisheries.

Maintaining healthy, productive and resilient marine ecosystems is essential for protecting the marine environment and sustaining its valuable resources. The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims to achieve good environmental status (GES) for all marine waters across Europe, including by restoring and maintaining healthy commercial fish and shellfish stocks. These objectives are supported by other policy instruments, including the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which aims to EU Biodiversity Strategy and the ensure that fish stocks are exploited sustainably and the European Green Deal, which aims to protect biodiversity and ensure sustainable fisheries sectors through the EU Biodiversity Strategy and Farm-to-Fork Strategies.

Three criteria are used to assess GES for commercial stocks under the MSFD, based on:

1. level of exploitation, measured by fishing mortality

2. reproductive capacity

3. age and size distribution

This indicator looks at progress made towards achieving GES by tracking fishing mortality and reproductive capacity; it is not currently possible to assess fish stocks based on criterion 3.

Overall, the 2020 target of the CFP and MSFD to restore healthy fish and shellfish stocks has not yet been met across Europe. In 2019, of the 188 assessed stocks in European waters for which information was available to assess GES, only 22% were in good state according to both criteria and a further 34% according to at least one criterion. The state of commercial stocks is especially critical in the Mediterranean and Black seas where only 12% of assessed units were in good state based on a single criterion (eight out of 60 in the Mediterranean and none out of 7 in the Black Sea), and none were in good state based on both criteria. In the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea regions, 51% of the assessed commercial stocks met at least one of the two GES criteria considered, while only 12% were not in good state according to both criteria (Figure 1).

In 2019, around 71% of landings from Europe’s seas were from stocks for which at least one GES criterion could be assessed. Again, there were distinct regional differences: assessments of at least one criterion were possible for 77% of landings from ecoregions in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea but for only 31% of landings from the Mediterranean and Black seas (https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/total-catch-in-ices-and-gfcm-fishing-regions-of-europe-in-7).

Further collective action and urgent measures will be required to achieve sustainable fisheries. Accurate assessments of the state of the marine environment are vital for monitoring progress towards meeting policy objectives. Assessing more stocks to better inform GES will be important, along with developing metrics that allow accurate assessments of the age and size distribution of fish populations.

In the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, because of overfishing and unsustainable fishing practices, fishing mortality increased from approximately sustainable levels (i.e., where F/F_MSY≤1) in the 1950s to more than double sustainable levels (i.e., F/F_MSY>2) in the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, reproductive capacity declined until the early 2000s, putting it at risk of becoming impaired. Since then, clear improvements have been made — fishing mortality declined consistently after the late 1990s towards sustainable levels on average and reproductive capacity has shown signs of recovery. The trends suggest that targeted policy actions and management efforts (e.g. Total Allowable Catch) have been successful in reducing the damage caused by long-term fishing pressures in these regions.

In contrast, there is no clear sign of improvement in the Mediterranean or Black Sea, where fisheries management continues to be largely based on technical measures or input controls (effort regimes). Furthermore, very few GES thresholds for reproductive capacity have been defined for commercial fish and shellfish stocks in these regions. Most of the stocks assessed are fished at a biologically unsustainable level and reproductive capacity has not improved from the 2003 level. For most stocks, it is likely that reproductive capacity was below a healthy level in 2003.

Supporting information

Definition

The indicators track the status of commercial fish stocks in European regional seas and the pressure exerted by fisheries on those stocks, as well as the quality of the information available. To that end, the following is reported:

· the status of marine fish and shellfish stocks based on the current level of exploitation and reproductive capacity;

· the importance of the (sub-)region, reflected by the total landings (as a proxy of catch) from commercial fisheries in European seas per MSFD (sub-)region;

the availability of appropriate information for the status assessment, as reflected by the proportion of those landings covered by quantitative stock assessments, i.e. the proportion providing the required indicators and their reference levels.

Methodology

North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea

For the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, the indicator is calculated using assessments from the ICES stock database from 2015-2021. The ICES stock assessment database consists of 198 stock assessments, and provides information, by stock and by year, on a number of variables. The period for which this information is available varies depending on the stock.

Proportion of assessed stocks

Currently, the two criteria used to determine the status of commercial fish stocks are that they are:

· exploited sustainably, consistent with high long-term yields;

· have full reproductive capacity.

F and SSB, in combination with MSY-based reference values, are the most appropriate metrics for these two criteria. The metrics used for F and SSB may differ between stocks. Not all stocks can be assessed for both metrics.

Total landings in MSFD (sub-)regions

Stocks are assigned to an MSFD ecoregion based on the ICES subareas and divisions. Under the MSFD, individual stocks may be considered in more than one ecoregion. However, for this analysis stocks are assigned to one ecoregion, considered to be most important to the stock and fishery. ICES is presently developing a system of assigning stocks to appropriate ecoregions based on distribution and migration patterns as well as location of landings.

Total landings data are extracted from the ICES Official Nominal Catches data set (note: in FAO terminology, ‘nominal catches’ refer to ‘landings’) and are assigned to the different MSFD regions based on area.

The total landings for non-assessed stocks by ecoregion is calculated by subtracting total stock landings by ecoregion from the total landings by ecoregion.

Good Status

The status of commercial species per MSFD ecoregion is assessed based on all stocks for which the required information on F and/or SSB is available, or (for some stocks assessed by ICES) proxy methods exist to determine the status in relation to MSY targets.

For each region, the proportion of stocks that fulfil both (F and SSB), one (only F or only SSB if both criteria are known) or none (F or SSB if only a single criterion is known) of the MSFD criteria for GES is calculated. Thus, the five different categories are:

· F only: stocks for which only F information is available and that fulfil the MSFD criterion for F GES;

· SSB only: stocks for which only SSB information is available and that fulfil the MSFD criterion for SSB GES;

· F and SSB: stocks for which F and SSB information is available and that fulfil the MSFD criteria for F GES and SSB GES;

· F or SSB: stocks for which F and SSB information is available and that fulfil the MSFD criterion for F GES or SSB GES.

· None: stocks for which F and SSB information is available and do not fulfil the MSFD criterion for any of the two, and stocks for which only F or only SSB information is available and do not fulfil the GES criterion.

Mediterranean and Black Seas

Proportion of assessed stocks

In the Mediterranean and Black Seas, stocks are mostly defined by management area because of a lack of biological knowledge. As such, they are referred to as ‘assessment units’ in this report to distinguish them from biologically defined stocks and no total number of stocks per region is reported. Assessment units in the Mediterranean Sea were assessed based on the assessments available through the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for fisheries (STECF), published in 2017-2019, and those in the Black Sea were based on the assessments facilitated by GFCM, performed between 2016 and 2018. As assessments are carried out in a multiannual cycle, different assessment units are included in each annual working group report.

Initially, the two criteria used to determine the status of commercial fish stocks are:

· exploited sustainably, consistent with high long-term yields;

· have full reproductive capacity.

F and SSB, in combination with an MSY-based reference value, are the most appropriate metrics for these two criteria. The metrics used for F and SSB may differ between assessment units. This may result in a different number of stocks being assessed for each metric.

Total landings in MSFD (sub-)regions

Landings information for the Mediterranean and Black Seas is extracted from the FAO regional workspace including on 'GFCM capture production'. Landings information is available by fishing area (FAO division). Total landings for the assessed units for the Mediterranean and Black seas is calculated by selecting landings for the species for which STECF provides F/FMSY information, where the following assumptions are made:

· As the multiple fishing areas of the Mediterranean Sea do not directly coincide with the GSAs, overall landings is used for the Mediterranean Sea for the assessed species.

· Landings are extracted by linking the common name in the stock description with the species name in the landings data set.

The total landings for non-assessed units in the Mediterranean and Black Seas is calculated by subtracting the calculated total landings for assessed stocks from the total landings for these two regions.

Good Status

As for the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea.

Policy/environmental relevance

Commercial fish and shellfish provide most of the seafood derived from European waters and, if sustainably exploited, they could be a continuous source of healthy protein. However, the heavy exploitation of fish and shellfish can affect their reproductive capacity and thus their potential for recovery. To achieve sustainability, the levels of exploitation and reproductive capacity need to be analysed to assess the status of marine fish and shellfish in Europe.

Through the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the MSFD, EU Member States are committed to maintaining fish populations at biomass levels above those required to produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), by exploiting the stocks at appropriate fishing mortality rates in 2015 where possible, and by 2020 for all stocks; an objective that has not yet been reached. Descriptor 3 (D3) of the MSFD also sets out that populations of commercial fish and shellfish have full reproductive capacity in order to maintain stock biomass and the proportion of older and larger fish/shellfish should be maintained (or increased) being an indicator of a healthy stock. Good Environmental Status is achieved for a particular stock only if all of the three attributes are fulfilled. Currently, only two criteria are used for assessing GES. Moreover, the fact that only those stocks for which regular quantitative stock assessments are conducted can be included in such a status assessment means that it is important to show what proportion of commercial species is covered by quantitative stock assessments. Therefore, this indicator consists of three parts:

· the proportion of the total catch in the MSFD (sub-)regions of Europe covered by the quantitative stock assessments conducted by the ICES and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM);

· the proportion of the total number of stocks in the MSFD (sub-)regions of Europe covered by quantitative stock assessments conducted by the ICES and the GFCM;

· an overview of the status of assessed fish stocks per MSFD (sub-)region and its trend over time, with GES being based on two criteria being met:

- a sustainable level of exploitation (assessed by F);

- reproductive capacity not being compromised (assessed by SSB).

Accuracy and uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

The status of commercial species is expressed as the proportion of stocks that fulfils one or more of the GES criteria, as this is the most straightforward method since it does not require any additional information. However, the status can also be expressed as the proportion of catches or the proportion of biomass, depending on data availability. Each method is likely to give different results.

Similarly, the status of European marine fish and shellfish over time is shown for both GES criteria considered as the annual mean ratio indicator/GES threshold, while alternatively the annual mean ratio deviation of the indicator from the GES threshold relative to that threshold can be calculated. This is also likely to give different values but is unlikely to give rise to different conclusions.

For compliance with the status assessments in relation to the CFP, the same stocks for the Mediterranean Sea as those used by the STECF are adopted. This implies that only stocks assessed by the GFCM (hence not the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)) are used for this assessment.

Data sets uncertainty

Catch and stock assessment data: depending on the year selected, the suite of assessed stocks may change (in the Mediterranean and Black seas because here they do not conduct annual stock assessments for all stocks simultaneously; and in the ICES areas many stocks are assessed only every two or more years). This may lead to indicator values changing simply because different stocks are considered each year. Therefore, the analyses presented here use latest assessment for each stock from last five years (under the assumption that the most recent assessment is indicative of GES status until the next assessment is conducted).

Geographical comparability

Comparability is assured in each regional seas while comparability between regions is not always possible due to lack of thresholds for reproductive capacity.

Reproductive capacity between different regions (North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea vs Mediterranean and Black seas) have different approaches to calculating F threshold values in stock assessments.

The matching of catch areas and stocks to the MSFD regions/sub-regions is not final and may change following further consultations.

Comparability over time

Data comparability depend on the number of stocks, data are mainly comparable after 2000. Data are comparable in the time frame of this indicator 2016-2020.

Data sources and providers

Metadata

DPSIRTopicsTagsTemporal coverageGeographic coverage

TypologyUN SDGsUnit of measureFrequency of disseminationContact

References and footnotes

EU, 2008, Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive), OJ L 164, 25.6.2008, p. 19-40.

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EC, 2021, 'Common fisheries policy (CFP)', (https://ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/policy/common-fisheries-policy-cfp_en) accessed April 26, 2022.

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EC, 2021, 'Biodiversity strategy for 2030', European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en) accessed December 22, 2021.

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EU, 2019, COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS The European Green Deal

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EU, 2020, COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 Bringing nature back into our lives

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EU, 2020, COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system

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For example, for the current assessment, of the 261 stocks in the Northeast Atlantic and Baltic Sea, data were available for 193 stocks (74 %) but only 121 (46 %) had sufficient information to assess GES based on both criteria considered.
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