On February 13, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) published its 2023 assessment of the state of exploited fish populations in mainland France.
This annual study covers landings in 2022 (347,000 tonnes) and concerns some 300 species of fish, of which some fifty alone account for 95% of the quantities landed.
It shows that 56% of the quantities landed in 2022 concern species considered to be sustainably exploited, compared to 54% in 2021. An increase of just 2% is too slow, and a far cry from the European target of 100% sustainable fishing by 2020. The 2022 increase is the result of improved saithe populations in the North Sea – West Scotland.
“For fishing to be sustainable, we need not only to reach the target of 100% of fish population in good condition, but also to maintain it over the long term,” says Clara Ulrich, coordinator of fisheries expertise at Ifremer.
“To achieve this, we need to consider and better understand the factors that influence the development of fish eggs and larvae, particularly in the light of climate change”, she stresses.
Because “poor recruitment in one year can be enough to cause a significant drop in biomass in subsequent years”, she points out.
20% of species overfished
While sustainable fishing is certainly making progress, albeit slowly, 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 remaining 22% come from unclassified or unassessed stocks, due to insufficient data.
The situation differs from one coast to another
Atlantic : The report also highlights the fragility of sole and sardine populations in the Bay of Biscay. The proportion of landings of species in good condition has been falling over the past 10 years, from 44% in 2010 to 37% in 2022 (36% in 2021). 80% of the individuals observed have not yet reached or have barely reached sexual maturity.
North Sea and Eastern English Channel: These are the maritime regions recording the highest proportions of species from populations in good condition : 63% due to the high proportion of scallops and herring.
Mediterranean Sea: The situation is particularly bad in the Mediterranean, where only 36.5% of the 18,000 tonnes of fish landed are caught sustainably.
