The European Hake: Mediterranean’s Most Overfished Species

According to the EU’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), hake stocks in the region have fallen to less than 10% of the levels required for the survival of the species. Nevertheless, the species is being fished at almost double the sustainable limit required for stock recovery.

Over a two-week period, the journalists conducted fieldwork across the west coast of central and southern Italy and the east coast of southern Spain. They visited dozens of ports, markets, shops and restaurants, searching for evidence of illegal catches and the sale of undersized hake.

KEY FINDINGS

• In all the ports visited by the team in Italy and Spain, fishermen were affected by the crisis in species availability.
• In all Italian ports and some Spanish ones, the team found evidence of the systematic illegal sale of juvenile hake, measuring just a few centimetres, which is well below the 20 cm minimum threshold required by European legislation.
• Interviews with fishermen, experts, and restaurant owners revealed that trawlers still make widespread use of small-mesh nets, often below the legal limit, and frequently fish in areas where hake reproduce.

Photo credit: Francesco De Augustinis