ABSTRACT
The primary goal of the common fisheries policy (CFP), essentially by setting quotas, has been to redress the effect of long-standing overfishing and stock depletion, thereby ensuring sustainable fisheries and guarantee incomes and stable jobs for fishermen. It has been revised and updated several times over the years. Overall, the CFP has had only limited success in achieving its objectives. In 2013 the council and parliament reached agreement on a new CFP, covering the long-term environmental, economic and social sustainability of fishing and aquaculture activities. A radical reform of the CFP was agreed by fisheries ministers in December 2002. It still struggled with the same unsolved problems, confirming its ineffectiveness. This time it focused more on the sustainable exploitation of fish resources based on sound scientific advice and on the precautionary approach to fishing, as well as on sustainable aquaculture. It took a more long-term approach to fisheries management by setting multi-annual recovery plans for stocks.
