BRUSSELS—The European Union's audit office has said the $2.25 billion program to combat fish stock depletion through subsidies was a failure.
EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki on Monday promised to revamp the policy under which almost nine out of ten fish stocks, such as cod and bluefin tuna, are overfished.
For the last two decades, the EU had hoped to protect threatened fish stocks by subsidizing the scrapping of vessels used in fishing. The European Court of Auditors said that was a mistake.
ECA member Lazaros Lazarou said that "the existing policy has failed," despite spending euro1.7 billion since 1994.
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