Overfishing still affects 20% of fish landed in France

Overfishing still concerns 20% of fish landed in France, while European objectives required reaching 100% sustainable fishing in 2020, Ifremer announced this Tuesday in a press release. In 2022, 56% of the 347,000 tonnes of fish landed in France came from sustainably exploited populations, a figure slightly improving compared to 2021 (54% sustainable fishing). On the other hand, 20% of landings come from overexploited fish populations and 2% from collapsed populations, such as Mediterranean hake or pollack from the Channel and North Sea. The rest (22% of volumes) comes from unclassified or unvalued stocks, due to lack of sufficient data. The situation is particularly bad in the Mediterranean Sea, where only 36.5% of the 18,000 tonnes of fish landed are sustainably fished. Conversely, the North Sea and the east of the Channel show the best performances, with more than 63% of seafood volumes coming from populations in good condition, thanks to good resources of herring and scallops. ...