The fourth North Sea Conference (4NSC) held in Esbjerg in 995 and the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting on the Integration of Fisheries and Environmental Issues (IMM) held in Bergen in 1997 identified the need for particular research to support marine environmental protection and the sustainable development of fisheries. In support of these commitments, the German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt - ⁠UBA⁠) commissioned Ecologic, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP, London) and Umweltstiftung WWF-Deutschland to provide an overview of the state of research on fisheries and the environment.