Since 2008, the European Commission (EC) publishes an annual communication on fishing opportunities. The communication provides an overview of the state of the resource and outlines the rules and principles the European Commission intends to follow for proposing Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and fishing effort limitations for the following year.

The Ecologic Institute analysed stakeholder submissions to the European Commission's public consultation on fishing opportunities for 2015. The consultation generated widespread interest from a range of stakeholders: the fishing sector, public authorities, scientists, fisheries advisory councils, citizens and NGOs. The evaluation demonstrates that stakeholders are concerned by overfishing and that most of them have a good understanding of the issues at stake, including of the objective to recover fish stocks to levels above those capable of producing the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The report is available for download.