Importance of regionalization: policy, enforcement and culture as evidence of the north-south divide in the European Union fish catching sector

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The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is a set of rules organised at a European Union level, covering all aspects and stages of the fishing industry from the sea to consumer. After many changes and reforms, the CFP as it has today has not yet been successful in its objectives “to ensure exploitation of living aquatic resources that provides sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions of protecting Europe’s fish stocks”. This paper explores evidence of current regionalization and identifies the differences in the current fisheries modus operandi in the EU, with special reference to the north/south divide (Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea respectively). This was accomplished by a historical analysis followed by an analysis of the existing CFP regulations in force. The differences in the management regimes were explained by the different biological and physical characteristics of each marine region and its policy history. Through literature review and interviews with fishers in various ports in different countries, cultural differences between different areas were also identified. These variations were linked with failures of the CFP, supporting recommendations for further regionalization of the policy. Finally, regionalization is considered as to how it can play a bigger part in solving (especially in terms of governance), the five structural failings of the CFP according to the latest green paper; fleet over-capacity, poor compliance and the CFP’ s imprecise policy objectives, short-term focus and paternalistic approach.