Fisheries

Oceans serve as a trophic basis for all sea creatures, annually feeding between 200 million and 400 million tonnes of fish. According to specialists, the maximum fish draught to guarantee the stability of marine ecosystems cannot exceed 100 million tonnes per year.

Overfishing of commercial fish stocks causes changes in the dynamic balance between species. The introduction of new technologies (such as purse seining) can add further pressure by not only increasing catches, but also killing non-target species.

For Europe, the total annual catch has remained stable over the past two decades at around 10 million to 12 million tonnes. The major fishing countries are Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, Spain, the UK and France.

There has been a large reduction in deep-sea fishing in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

Herring