Total production of fishery products
(million tonnes of live weight, EU, 2000-2022)
Source: Eurostat (fish_ca_main), (fish_aq_q) and (fish_aq2a)

This article gives an overview of recent statistics relating to fishing fleets, fish catches, and fish landings in the European Union (EU).
Fish are a renewable and mobile natural resource. Aside from aquaculture farming, fish are generally not owned until they have been caught. As such, fish stocks continue to be regarded as a common, wild resource which needs to be managed collectively. This has led to a range of policies that regulate the amount of fishing at the EU level and more widely at sea basin level, as well as the types of fishing techniques and gear that can be used in fish capture.
The current common fisheries policy (CFP) of the EU [1] aims at an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable use of the common resource including aquaculture production. The CFP is a set of rules for managing EU fishing fleets and for conserving fish stocks. Designed to manage a common resource, it gives all EU fishing fleets equal access to EU waters and fishing grounds and allows fishermen to compete fairly. The current policy stipulates that between 2015 and 2020 catch limits should be set that are sustainable and maintain fish stocks in the long term. Based on EU legislation, Eurostat produces statistics on catches and landings of fishery products, aquaculture and the EU fishing fleet.