COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of the European Fishery Statistics
Date: 2019-11-28
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, aquaculture, catch of fish, common fisheries policy, data collection, fishery product, fishing statistics, fishing vessel, official statistics, sea fishing

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.11.2019  SWD(2019) 426 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of the European Fishery Statistics {SWD(2019) 425 final}  
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

European Fishery Statistics (EFS) cover fisheries products caught from the sea and produced 
from aquaculture in the EU, Norway and Iceland. They have been provided since the 1950s 
to support the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The legal basis for the 
statistics consists of acts adopted between 2006 and 2009.  

The statistics are part of a complex system of fisheries-related data in the EU and worldwide. 
This  gives  rise  to  discrepancies  (as  pointed  out  by  the  European  Court  of  Auditors)  and 
inefficiencies for data producers serving different organisations through parallel data flows.  

The  main  conclusion  of  this  evaluation  is  that  EFS  are  an  important  independent  source  of 
information,  serving  several  types  of  user  need  linked  to  fisheries  management,  market 
monitoring and research. 

However, their relative added value for fisheries management has been on a downward trend, 
as other data sources such as the Control Regulation and the Data Collection Framework are 
better targeted and also cover socio-economic aspects, while European business, labour force 
and social statistics do not provide enough detail on the fisheries sector.  

Relevance 

There  is  evidence  that  EFS  have  been  serving  their  purpose,  providing  relevant  input  on 
fisheries  production,  for  policymaking  in  a  wider  context  (in  particular  as  regards  the 
environment  and  the  maritime  economy)  and  for  market  monitoring  in  the  business  sector, 
research  and  media  use.  However,  their  relevance  has  declined,  as  the  development, 
monitoring  and  evaluation  of  the  CFP  have  required  more  data  and  information  since  the 
2013 reform. 

Effectiveness 

EFS  are  used  intensively  for  market  monitoring  purposes  and  are  useful  for  international 
organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. However, 
they  are not  used to  the  extent expected for the needs of the CFP.  Because the aquaculture 
sector  is  made  up  of  a  limited  number  of  very  specialised  companies,  some  data  are  not 
available for reasons of confidentiality. 

Statistical quality 

The  benefits  of  EFS  are  higher  data  quality  standards  and  the  independence  of  the 
information,  in  particular  in  an  area  covered  by  a  common  EU  policy.  The  statistics  are 
considered more accurate and more complete than similar datasets addressing fisheries policy 
needs. 

Efficiency 

The cost of EFS is limited by the fact that, in most countries, catch, landing and aquaculture 
statistics  are  compiled  from  the  raw  data  collected  for  policy  purposes.  Eurostat  compiles 

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fishing fleet  statistics directly from the EU fishing fleet  register, without the need for input 
from the Member States.  

The  evaluation  confirmed  that  EU  and  global  fisheries  data  systems  give  rise  to  significant 
inefficiencies by requiring each country to report overlapping but slightly different datasets to 
several different organisations.  

Coherence 

While  the  internal  coherence  of  EFS  is  good,  other  European  statistics  linked  to  fisheries 
(international  trade,  production  of  manufactured  goods,  businesses  and  labour  force,  and 
organic  aquaculture  statistics)  provide  a  less-than-ideal  basis  for  analysing  the  maritime 
economy in detail. 

Analysis of the coherence between EFS and Control Regulation data revealed some persistent 
discrepancies.  While  these  remain  small  overall,  they  are  significant  in  Mediterranean 
countries where the fishing fleet is composed of a large number of small vessels.  

EU added value 

Individual  countries  acting  separately  could  not  compile  such  long,  independent  and 
comparable time-series of fishery statistics in a consolidated publicly available database.  

The  discontinuation  of  EFS  would  represent  a  reputational  risk  for  the  Commission  and  in 
particular for the European statistical system and Eurostat, as the CFP would not be based on 
independent baseline statistics. 

Lessons learned 

The  CFP  requires  good-quality  fishery  statistics  that  are  independent  and  fit  for  purpose, 
serve  a  wide  range  of  user  needs  and  fit  well  into  the  overall  international  fisheries  data 
ecosystem.  

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