OceanLaw On-Line Paper No. 20, April 2003

Europe's New Common Fisheries Policy

Rolf Hagan
WWF Europe

Abstract
In December 2002, the EU Fisheries Council agreed on the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The new measures, which entered into force on 1 January 2003, have replaced the rules which governed the CFP since 1993. The previous CFP was responsible for massive overfishing and destruction of the marine environment. Through its European Fisheries Campaign, the World-wide fund for nature (WWF) worked hard throughout 2002 to ensure that the new policy would stop overfishing and protect the marine environment. While the new CFP has responded to many demands of WWF and other environmental groups and provides a more comprehensive legal basis for the management of EU fisheries it does not fully address the issue of overcapacity and other important areas, such as fishing agreements with third countries, have yet to be dealt with.