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In a report on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the European Commission (EC) has stated the fishing vessel scrapping by the European Union (EU) is "very slow" and there is "capacity excess" in most vessels of the EU fleet.
The EU executive said that the CFP "deep" reform will include "sustainable solutions" to "change this situation and ensure an economically viable future for the fisheries sector in the EU."
With regard to Spain, the EC criticised the government for not providing enough information on the extent in which the capacity of ships matches the fishing opportunities.
In 2009, 66 ships were scrapped with a tonnage of 4,949 gross tonnes, and other 85 boats entered the fleet with a tonnage of 1,000 gross tonnes.
In that year, the average reduction of the EU fleet capacity was between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, as in previous years.
The report stated: "With this rate of capacity reductions, which are at least partly compensated by technological progress, it will be difficult to eliminate overcapacity in the short term if no changes are made to the current policy.
"The amount of capacity decommissioned with public aid in 2009 increased approximately 10 per cent in relation to 2008," reads the Report on the efforts of Member States to achieve sustainable balance between EU fishing capacity and fishing opportunities.
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