The EC Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was reviewed in 1992 after ten years, and a new regulation was adopted for the next decade. It is an extrapolation of the previous policy and focuses in particular on the principle of “relative stability” (i.e. fixed quotas for member states) as well as on a system of managing fish stocks by establishing annual total catch limits. The aim is to establish an economic and ecological balance between usable marine resources and fishing fleets by protecting stocks and reducing fishing capacities.

In 1995 the 4th International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea and the Kyoto International Conference on a Sustainable Contribution of Fisheries to Food Security also addressed the issue of the long-term survival of the fisheries industry. A corresponding conference of the environment ministers and the fisheries ministers also took place in Bergen (Norway) in March 1997 within the framework of the International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea. Within the sphere of the United Nations, this topic was addressed in 1996 by the Commission on Sustainable Development and is to be debated in the General Assembly of the United Nations. In this context - and within the framework of the European Union - the Federal Government advocates an environmentally sound structuring of the fisheries industry in order to ensure its long-term survival.