What is the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)?

The CFP is the EU’s policy for managing fisheries across member states. Its basic aim is to ensure sustainable fishing over the long term. One way it achieves this is by placing limits on the amount of certain species that can be caught each year. Within these limits, quotas are agreed for each member state, which are then distributed domestically by national governments. The CFP works on the principle of catching the ‘maximum sustainable yield’, the largest amount of fish that can be caught without stocks declining. Since 2019, there has been a ban on discarding some fish, known as the landing obligation, which means fishers must land all fish for which a country has quota, regardless of species or size. The UK remains subject to the CFP until the end of the transition period. For more information, check out our Fisheries and Brexit report.