Many of Europe's fishing fleets have the capacity to fish two to three times more than the sustainable level. This overcapacity has led to the current dire state of European fisheries. In European waters, the level of overfishing is higher than the global average, with an estimated 88% of European fish stocks in a poor state. Rather than solve this problem, the EU has progressively been increasing their capacity in seas beyond its own to meet the growing global demand for seafood and to keep their fleets in business. Several of Europe's largest vessels are currently operating in waters of some of the world's poorest nations through fisheries partnership agreements or joint ventures, undermining local food security by failing to adequately consider the local communities need for localfish as a source of protein and income.