Common cuttlefish

The status of cuttlefish stocks varies by area. In the Northeast Atlantic, the status is uncertain due to a lack of data, while stocks in Senegal and Gambia are overfished and require recovery measures. For the Mediterranean, recent information is lacking to assess whether current fishing pressure is sustainable.

With the exception of handlines and hand-operated lines and pots, which score green, all fishing methods score red. The impact of the fishing method varies considerably between fisheries. Handlines and pots have a limited impact on vulnerable (ETP) species, the seabed and the ecosystem. Gillnets, trammel nets, and especially bottom trawls, pose greater risks to bycatch, the seabed and the food web. In many fisheries, sufficient data on bycatch, discards and catch composition are lacking, making the ecological impact difficult to assess. CO₂ emissions are generally low, except for bottom trawls, while lost fishing gear poses a significant risk to the ecosystem, particularly in net fisheries.

Management of cuttlefish fisheries varies considerably between areas but is generally insufficient. In Europe, measures to address bycatch, ecosystem damage and illegal fishing are in place, but implementation and enforcement are often only partly effective. Outside Europe, including in Senegal, management, enforcement and monitoring are inadequate, allowing illegal fishing to remain a major problem and putting pressure on the position of local fishers.