Overfishing Crunch time: act now to end overfishing in the EU by the 2020 deadline

The document argues that the EU is failing to meet its 2020 goal of ending overfishing due to Total Allowable Catches (TACs) being set above scientific advice, particularly by certain Member States. It recommends following scientific advice to achieve Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), properly enforcing the landing obligation, increasing transparency in the TAC-setting process, and ensuring honest reporting on progress.

• The EU has struggled to meet the 2020 objective of ending overfishing and restoring stocks to healthy levels, with more than half of the assessed Total Allowable Catches (TACs) set above scientific advice last year.
• Specific EU Member States have actively pushed for fishing limits that exceed sustainable levels between 2017 and 2019, including France, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Denmark.
• The landing obligation, or 'discard ban', which came into full force in 2019, suffers from poor compliance and exemptions that may act as loopholes, potentially leading to overfishing if unreported discards continue.
• The process for setting TACs lacks transparency and accountability, which hinders public engagement and allows ministers to establish unsustainable limits in private.
• ClientEarth claims that some of the European Commission's reporting on the progress toward ending overfishing has been misleadingly positive.

APA

ClientEarth (n.d.). Overfishing Crunch time: act now to end overfishing in the EU by the 2020 deadline. https://www.clientearth.org/media/i5voltoy/clientearths-key-recommendations-to-decision-makers-on-meeting-the-2020-msy-deadline-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Overfishing Crunch time: act now to end overfishing in the EU by the 2020 deadline. n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/i5voltoy/clientearths-key-recommendations-to-decision-makers-on-meeting-the-2020-msy-deadline-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Overfishing Crunch time: act now to end overfishing in the EU by the 2020 deadline |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/i5voltoy/clientearths-key-recommendations-to-decision-makers-on-meeting-the-2020-msy-deadline-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearthndoverfishing, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Overfishing Crunch time: act now to end overfishing in the EU by the 2020 deadline}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/i5voltoy/clientearths-key-recommendations-to-decision-makers-on-meeting-the-2020-msy-deadline-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }