Changes in the composition and future of the sector on an international plane will allow the European Union to continue to maintain the position it holds today in global fishery production arena. As three new Member States join the EU in 2007, and despite the growth of developing countries, the EU remains in third place on an international ranking.
Projections for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), indicate that the EU fleet is currently made up of close to 100,000 fishery vessels, including those all types, from artisinal to modern trawlers. Production will hit an all-time high of 9.4 million tons, 8.2 million of which is from extractive efforts.
This figure comprises oceanic and continental catches as well aquaculture activity, and will be the highest reached by the EU, albeit still behind China and Peru, world leaders in fishery.
Despite maintaining its position over time, the EU has demonstrated it has been losing ground in fisheries’ global numbers, since production has fallen from 30 per cent in 1950 to 14 percent today, according to La Voz de Galicia.
According to FAO data, developing countries currently produce 73 per cent of the world’s total production, while Asia and Africa export 58 per cent of what Europe consumes in fish.
No doubt this is closely linked with the steady growth of control over the world’s fishery grounds, to which not long ago the EU fleet had access, whether through increasingly scarce fishery accords or through a lack of regulation.
Source: Fish Information and Services