European Union (EU) citizens are eating more fish than can be produced in EU waters and are thereby increasingly dependent on imports, according to a new report by the think tank nef (new economics foundation) and OCEAN2012.  The study, Fish Dependence: the increasing reliance of the EU on fish from elsewhere, affirms that if the EU only consumed fish from its own waters, resources would run out by 8 July. After that date, for the rest of the year the EU would be dependent on fish products imported from elsewhere in the world. Moreover, over the past 10 years the date the EU would become reliant on imports occurs earlier in the year; in 2010 it is one month earlier than in 2000.

The authors point to the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), scheduled to enter into force in 2013, to reverse the trend and ensure the viability of EU fisheries, rather than importing increasing quantities of fish.

Ocean2012 and new economic foundation press release: Europe blows its annual budget

Report: Fish Dependence: the increasing reliance of the EU on fish from elsewhere (pdf)

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