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Fisheries
In 2002, the EU-25 produced nearly 7.6 million
tonnes of fisheries products. This makes the EU 3rd producer in the world (source: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/publications/statistics_en.htm).
The following
trends were published:
- Fisheries production declined by 17% between 1995
and 2002 in the EU-25.
- Denmark (1.47 million tonnes) had the highest
production of all the Member States
in 2002, followed by Spain (1.15 million tonnes), France (0.95 million tonnes) and the United Kingdom (0.87 million tonnes). These four
Member States accounted for almost 60% of the EU-25 total production.
- Total catches in all regions made
up 83% of EU-25 fishery production in 2002. At 4.62 million tonnes, catches in the North-East Atlantic alone accounted for more than 60%
of EU-25 total production, while catches in the Central-East Atlantic and in the Mediterranean accounted for 8% and 7% respectively
of the total.
- Among EU-15 Member States, Greece
had the highest number of fishing vessels in 2003 with 19,000 followed by Italy (15,700), Spain (14,400) and Portugal (10,300). These four Member States
accounted for two thirds of the total number of EU-15 fishing vessels.
- Between 1995 and 2003, the EU-15 fishing fleet was
reduced by 15%, from 104,000 to 88,000 vessels.
- The EU fleet spent in 2005-6 probably about
1.3-1.5 mln Euro on fuel.
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Employment
The total of people directly involved in the fisheries and aquaculture in Europe
is well over 400000.
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Resources
Many fish stocks are in a declining state (ICES, 2006) causing a decrease
of fishing opportunities, whilst running costs of fishing vessels are increasing
due to increasing price of fuel. These two jeopardize the profitability of fishing
operations (Anon., 2006; Beare and McKenzie, 2006), and many companies are at present
on the verge of bankruptcy.
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Energy costs
In recent years there is increased unease within the fishing industry due
to the increased prices of fuel, which, coupled to the shortage in income due to
the poor state of the fish resources, has led to many fishing enterprises to economic
collapse or close to it. Most affected are beam trawlers, with demersal trawlers
and seiners following.
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EU-response
A seminar on Energy efficiency in fisheries was organised by DG FISH on
11 and 12 May 2006, in Brussels, during which a number of possible avenues for solutions
were outlined. One of the main conclusions of the seminar was that there was a need
to have a clear, scientifically-founded panorama of the situation and that a study
should be undertaken to provide fishing operators with adequate guidance in order
to choose fishing practices and energy technologies that are more efficient in terms
of energy expenditure by unit of revenue from catch (Anon., 2006b). Ways are sought
to improve energy efficiency of vessels and gears.
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