Moving Towards Low Impact Fisheries in Europe: Policy Hurdles & Actions

Fisheries have impacts on the marine environment other than those that arise from the removal of a proportion of the population of the target species. These may be direct, such as impacts on marine populations or habitats from unselective gear, destruction of the seabed or interactions with rare or endangered species. Fishing impacts may also be indirect, for example contributing to climate change via the carbon emissions of fishing vessels.