L'épuisement des ressources : mythe ou réalité ?

Following the decision of the European Union to enforce drastic management actions in the fishery sector, there is now a debate on the reality of the overexploitation of the major living resources. This paper firstly provides an overview of the state of the world fishery resources as it is shown by international studies. It then focus on European fisheries which are of interest for the French fleets, including those which are not managed by a TAC and quotas system. Finally, various arguments which are often used to explain the depletion of fishery resources in European waters are examined. We conclude that fishing dominates all other factors with regard to the evolution of marine living resources.