Overfishing EU fisheries is costing GBP 2.7 billion annually and 100,000 jobs, according to a new report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF).
Titled “Jobs Lost at Sea,” the report found that restoring just 43 EU fish stocks (out of a total of 150) to their maximum sustainable yield would generate 3.53 million metric tons of additional landings, enough to meet the annual demand of fish for almost 160 million EU citizens. The report also found that restoring fish stocks could increase the values of these stocks by 81 percent for the EU.
“Overfishing is bad for the economy. With the stroke of a pen, European fisheries ministers are wiping out millions of pounds and thousands of jobs each year by allowing overfishing to continue,” said Rupert Crilly, an environmental economics researcher at NEF and the report’s author.
“A third of the UK population’s annual fish consumption could be provided by just the UK’s share of restoring these fish stocks,” he continued. The industry could employ an extra 46 percent more people. Over GPB 400 million could be invested in coastal communities every year, 24 times the annual subsidy the UK receives precisely to mitigate the costs of overfishing.”
NEF is an independent London-based think-tank.
Click here to access the report, which was published on Friday.
