Fishing in Troubled Waters? An Analysis of the Upcoming Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy from the Perspective of Policy Coherence for Development

In December 2010, the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DEC/OC) asked the ECDPM to conduct a background analysis in relation to upcoming revisions in three important European policy domains: the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, and the General System of Preferences. The studies were conducted from the perspective of developing countries, which meant that they focused on the external dimensions of the policy areas concerned and were based on a combination of document analysis and a limited number of interviews with key stakeholders. The findings of the three studies were presented to Dutch government officials, to inform the formulation of the government’s position on the three policy revisions.

Following the completion of the studies, the Ministry encouraged the ECDPM to adapt those elements that were based on the analysis of policy documents, research data and other public documents and publish separate papers on each of the three policy domains. These papers aim to inform other interested actors about the implications of these policy revisions for developing countries. This particular paper is devoted to the Common Fisheries Policy.