Top 10 stories that defined Europe’s 2014 seafood industry

6. The EC’s annual report on the state of fish stocks found those in the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) off the coasts of Northern and Western Europe are recovering but that overfishing is still a big problem in the Mediterranean. In the NEA, including the Baltic and North Seas, 41 percent of stocks are overfished, which is down considerably from 86 percent recorded in 2009. However, the report also said 96 percent of bottom-living fish and 71 percent or more of mid-water stocks like sardine and anchovy in the Mediterranean are overfished. Furthermore, 33 percent of pelagic stocks and all bottom-living stocks in the Black Sea are overfished. The then EU Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, said she was “very worried how badly things are going in the Mediterranean Sea," and that she saw “a long struggle and hard work ahead.”