Record profits for EU fleets

FISHING businesses in the Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea are making record profits, thanks to a solid recovery of popular fish stocks.
These include North Sea cod and Northern hake, according to a report by EUMOFA, the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture.
In the latest data available, EU fishing fleets registered a 60 per cent increase to all-time high profits of 800 million euros, making fishing one of Europe’s strongest growth sectors.
It has found that currently 53 out of 76 stocks for which data is available are fished sustainably – compared to 44 stocks in 2017 and only five stocks in 2009.
The European Union is also leading the way in stock management, with 97 per cent by volume now being fished at sustainable levels.
And EUMOFA said consumption of both aquaculture reared and conventionally caught fish is up in both value and volume.
The Germans took the lead, with a seven per cent increase in consumption and a 10 per cent rise in spending last year. Sweden came second in the table. Although France remains the largest buyer of seafood, its consumption fell in 2017 in a trend that started back in 2011.
Overall consumption in the UK fell by two per cent in volume and one per cent in value last year, said EUMOFA. The total consumption in Britain was 27,748 tonnes, worth just over 329 million euros.