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The main challenge for the European seafood industry is to ensure sustainable production volume while adapting to climate warming. Marine fisheries mainly target 41 species which account for 80% of the seafood production in Europe. The remaining 20% comes from marine and freshwater aquaculture, which harvest mainly 5 and 11 species, respectively. European seafood production volume (2004–2014) recorded by FAO was combined with indices of temperature sensitivity and biological sensitivity (BS) based on the life histories of the main exploited species. We found that the marine sectors are more vulnerable to global warming than the freshwater sector. The vulnerability to warming of a country’s production is defined by the temperature sensitivity and the BS of the main exploited seafood species, weighted by their production volume. Production vulnerability in the marine sector increases with latitude due to the temperature sensitivity of the harvested species and their high production volume. No such gradient is found in the freshwater sector because most of the production is based on two species with opposite temperature sensitivity. To ensure a sustainable European seafood production, national climate strategies and action plans should include both fisheries and aquaculture and be integrated at a regional level. We present the 2004-2014 average European seafood production volume by production sector, country and species. The production data originates from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and covers three production sectors: marine fisheries, marine aquaculture and freshwater production. We also present the main ecological characteristics of each species produced or harvested. These species characteristics were retrieved from various published sources and include biological sensitivity to harvesting and temperature ranges for the most important species.

We present the 1951-2014 European seafood production volume by production sector, country and species. The production data originates from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and covers three production sectors: marine fisheries, marine aquaculture and freshwater production. Three major FAO area are included: European inland waters, North East Atlantic and Mediterranean and Black seas.