In the context of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its overall objective of sustainable fisheries, the issues of excess fishing capacity in world fisheries is an increasing concern. Excessive fishing capacity is a problem that, among others, contributes substantially to overfishing, the degradation of marine fisheries resources, the decline of food production potential, and significant economic waste.
The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries provides that States should take measures to prevent or eliminate excess fishing capacity and should ensure that levels of fishing effort are commensurate with sustainable use of fishery resources.

Policy summaries on topics relevant to the IPOA-CAPACITY are:

• Fishing capacity
• Fisheries Governance