A decade with the “2013” Common Fisheries Policy: Charting Progress, Navigating Challenges

The recent evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is unequivocal:
“The CFP Regulation remains a very important and relevant tool to manage a common natural resource and related economic activities in a changing world”.

Built on decades of engagement and successive adaptive reforms, the CFP provides an effective framework for sustainable fisheries management. Where there is room for improvement, this owes far more to a failure to implement the current legislation than to any fault in the framework itself:

“Inefficiencies and gaps identified in the evaluation and by stakeholders are often dependent on the full implementation of its provisions or provisions of secondary legislation.”

These implementation gaps should not be addressed through another revision process – one that risks weakening the substance of the CFP and wasting time we do not have. The simplest, most efficient and most timely response to the CFP evaluation is clear: implement, enforce, invest.

The solutions already exist. Now is the time to apply them – for a resilient fishing sector and a healthy marine environment for all.