Fish are a natural, biological, mobile (sometimes over wide distances) and renewable resource. No one can own fish until they have been caught and the impact of one set of fishermen impacts on others. For this reason, fish stocks continue to be regarded as a common resource, to be managed collectively. This calls for policies that regulate the amount of fishing, as well as the types of fishing techniques and gear used in fish capture, if this heritage is to be passed to future generations.

The first common measures in the fishing sector date from 1970. They set rules for access to fishing grounds, markets and structures. All these measures became more significant when, in 1976, Member States followed an international movement and agreed to extend their rights to marine resources from 12 to 200 miles from their coasts. After years of difficult negotiations, the common fisheries policy (CFP), the EU’s instrument for the management of fisheries and aquaculture, was born in 1983. The EU has a common fisheries policy in order to manage fisheries for the benefit of both fishing communities and consumers, and for the protection of resources.

Common measures are agreed in four main areas:

• Conservation - to protect fish resources by regulating the amount of fish taken from the sea, by allowing young fish to reproduce, and by ensuring that measures are respected;
• Structures-to help the fishing and aquaculture industries adapt their equipment and organisations to the constraints imposed by scarce resources and the market;
• Markets - to maintain a common organisation of the market in fish products and to match supply and demand for the benefit of both producers and consumers;
• Relations with the outside world :to set-up fisheries agreements and to negotiate at an international level within regional and international fisheries organisations for common conservation measures in deep-sea fisheries.

Fish stocks need to renew themselves as fish die through natural causes, fishing, or other causes. The CFP sets maximum quantities of fish that can be safely caught every year: the total allowable catch (TAC). Each country’s share is called a national quota.

The 2002 reform of the CFP identified the need to limit fishing efforts, the level of catches, and to enforce certain technical measures. The Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) funds projects in all branches of fishing and aquaculture with respect to the modernisation of the fishing fleet, as well as the removal of excess fishing capacity. The FIFG covers the period 2000-06 and will be replaced by the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) covering the period 2007-13.

As regards fleet management, the 2002 CFP reform introduced a simpler system for limiting fishing capacity within the EU fleet. The new system gives more responsibility to the Member States to achieve a better balance between the fishing capacity of their fleets and available resources.