Systemic failure of European fisheries management.

As parties to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (1), the European Union (EU) and its member states have adopted its obligations in the legally binding EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) (2). Yet despite legal commitments (see table S2), overfishing and the collapse of stocks continue in EU waters, prompting the question of why the EU is missing its goals. Fisheries data on the western Baltic Sea illustrate that the EU failed to implement key objectives of the CFP (2) in subsequent laws and regulations. The implementation of basic management has failed because of nonsustainable scientific catch advice along with shortsighted national requests leading to ill-advised proposals by the EU Commission (COM) that were subsequently fixed legally by national ministers in the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council (the Council). To make catch advice truly science-based and independent of shortsighted influence, we suggest creating a politically independent European Fisheries Authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]