Fishing in North Sea System

The North Sea, English Channel, Skagerrak, and Kattegat are all part of the Greater North Sea ecoregion. Fishing is centred in the southern half of the North Sea's coastal waters. The Greater North Sea is home to approximately 6600 fishing vessels. Trawling is the most common method of fishing.

Fish oil and fish meal are made from around half of the caught fish. Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands are the main fishing countries in the North Sea region. In 1983, members of the European Community adopted a one-of-a-kind fisheries agreement known as the Common Fisheries Policy. Each year, quotas for several North Sea species caught beyond territorial sea limits are imposed. Households in all EU nations, with the exception of Sweden, increased their expenditure on fish and seafood from 2017 to 2018. Processed fish and seafood consumed outside of the house through foodservice channels (restaurants or caterers) achieved record highs for the first time since 2014.

The EU self-sufficiency ratio, which assesses EU Member States’ ability to meet demand from their own production, which is in line with the 10-year average , namely 26%

The supply (domestic production plus imports) hit 14,61 million tonnes in 2017, the highest level since 2008. However, due to a decline in catches, this constituted a modest fall of 48.640 tonnes (-0.3%) from 2016. Imports were mostly used to meet internal demand.

Fisheries: an industry that's worth 0.1% of the UK's GDP