Britain responsible for the highest level of overfishing in Europe for past two decades, report finds

An analysis of catch records shows that between 2001 and 2020 the United Kingdom landed 1.78 million tonnes of fish that exceeded the level declared by scientists to be sustainable. Campaigners said the figures, produced by London-based think-tank the New Economics Foundation (NEF), showed that Britain and European Union states should include a legal requirement to end over-fishing in their climate laws. National governments and the EU each year set quotas for the total amount of different species to be caught in European waters, taking into account the advice from scientists designed to counter or prevent the collapse in stocks of popular fish such as cod. Griffin Carpenter, senior researcher at the NEF, said: “Instead, every year fisheries ministers have set fishing limits above the best available scientific advice, even going so far as to ignore the EU’s own legal deadline of 2020. A spokesperson said: “The UK has long championed the conservation of the marine environment and we are working hard to set a gold standard for sustainable fishing around the world.