As consumers we might be unaware of these issues. Does our fish come from a fishery that is over-exploited? Is the fishery unsustainable? That is, there are not enough fish there to reproduce themselves so that the stock could collapse entirely. Are the fish undersized? Small, juvenile fish may not have had a chance to breed and therefore replenish future stocks. Are the fishing methods damaging to the marine environment? Trawling for sea bass, for example, is associated with deaths of large numbers of dolphins.

In fact there are many more questions that we could ask ourselves about our fish and chips. But the wellbeing of fish stocks is not only affected by the decisions that the consumers make. Fishing is one of the most regulated industries in the UK and it is greatly affected by political decisions.

Fisheries around the UK coast are managed through a complex framework of international, European and national laws and rules. Around Europe's waters, the European Union is responsible for making most of the regulations that affect fishing activity, in the form of the Common Fisheries Policy. This policy controls most aspects of fishing.

For example, vessels are allocated quotas that determine the weight of fish that can be caught in a given period, and some boats are limited in the number of days that they can spend at sea each month. Fishing gear is also regulated: for instance, net sizes are set at minimum levels to avoid catching juvenile fish. With all this regulation we might think that overfishing wouldn't be a problem! However, the Common Fisheries Policy may not be working as effectively as it should be, because the UK's waters suffer as much from over-exploitation and diminishing stocks as do many other parts of the world.

There are thought to be many reasons for this. For instance quotas for the most vulnerable species around our coast, like cod and haddock, have been cut drastically over the last few years. But this has meant that some fishermen have been unable to make a living on the quota that they are allocated, with the effect that some fishermen may catch and land more fish than their quota allows. This of course is done illegally, and the consequences are that more fish are caught than the scientists recommend.

Another flaw in the Fisheries Policy is that most fishing methods produce a 'bycatch', that is an additional catch of non-targeted species. So, if a fisherman is fishing for his quota of sole and plaice he may nevertheless inadvertently get some cod, for which he does not have a quota. This compounds the pressure on the vulnerable cod stock.

And there may be other issues affecting the long term prospects for fish stocks in Europe. Recently, concern has grown that global warming has affected certain species. It is thought, for example, that because the North Sea's temperature has risen by approximately 1 degree Celsius, cod are moving north into cooler waters outside of the EU. Generally, there are worries that the Common Fisheries Policy does not take sufficient account of the complexity of the ocean ecosystem. Under the present system of quota decisions in Europe, species are considered individually and not in terms of their interactions with one another.

But the ocean is a diverse habitat not just for fish but for billions of creatures, many of which we know very little about. Fish belong to complicated ecologies and food chains; hence, overfishing one species may have consequences for many others. Thus, because adult cod eat herring we might want to be extra vigilant about herring stocks, even though they are currently considered to be at safe and sustainable levels. So if herring were to become over-fished then this could have serious consequences for cod stocks, which are thought to be dangerously close to collapse.

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Content last updated: 08/07/2005

About our writer

Liza Griffin is a Research Fellow in the Governance & Sustainability Programme at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. She is particularly interested in debates about power and space in relation to environmental governance. After attaining a geography and politics PhD at the Open University, she taught at the University of Westminster, Oxford Brookes, Birmingham City University, and the University of Oxford. Liza has published in peer-reviewed international journals on the management of marine resources; written two extended entries for international encyclopaedias; composed a report for the International Council for the Exploration of the Oceans; and has produced material to accompany the BBC series Coast .

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