In 2021, the EU fishing fleet numbered 71 628 vessels with a combined gross tonnage of 1.31 million and engine power of 5.2 million kW. Based on data submitted by Member States under the EU MAP, there were 54 213 active vessels in 2021 offering direct employment to 121917 fishers, corresponding to 81747 FTEs; on average earning EUR 26 042 in wages, annually. The EU fleet spent 5.5 million days-at-sea and consumed 1.81 billion litres of fuel to land 3.56 million tonnes of seafood with a reported value of EUR 6 billion. The Gross Value Added (GVA) and gross profit were estimated at EUR 3.3 billion and EUR 1.19 billion, respectively. With a total net profit of almost EUR 0.51 billion in 2021, 8.2% of the revenue was retained as profit. These results should be read in a context of an increase of fuel cost in 2021 compared to 2020. Overall indicators display an improvement compared to 2020 while nowcast estimates suggest the performance of EU fishing fleet will be severely deteriorated in 2022, especially driven by the fuel prices increase, although this deterioration will not be as severe as that one predicted in the AER 2022. This is because the fuel cost in the second half of 2022 showed a reducing trend compared to the first half of 2022. In 2023, an improvement is expected.

PRELLEZO Raul;  SABATELLA Evelina;  VIRTANEN Jarno;  TARDY MARTORELL Montserrat;  GUILLEN Jordi; 

2023-10-17

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC135182

978-92-68-07813-6 (online),   

2467-0715 (online),    1831-9424,   

EUR 28359 EN,    OP KJ-AX-23-012-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC135182,   

10.2760/423534 (online),