1 Mediterranean Issues : towards Effective Fisheries Management

The EU’s Member States bordering the Mediterranean – France, Greece, Italy and Spain have important and often locally significant fisheries sectors, operating in an environment that is characterised by high biological diversity. Despite the existence of an otherwise ‘common’ EU fisheries policy, Mediterranean fisheries have traditionally been subject to separate EU fish stock management measures to those applied in the north east Atlantic and Baltic regions. This situation can be explained on a number of grounds, including the particular geo-political situation in the Mediterranean region, and the fact that jurisdiction has generally not been extended out to fisheries or exclusive economic zones (EEZ) as is typical of the rest of the EU. The Mediterranean (excluding the Adriatic Sea) also has a narrow continental shelf such that about 90 per cent of fishing in the region is described as coastal. In effect this means that the majority of the surface area of the Mediterranean falls within international waters where there are important tuna and swordfish fisheries. Most Mediterranean fisheries nevertheless fall within coastal territorial waters.