Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Commission has assumed its proposal for the 2025 fishing opportunities for the Baltic Sea in response to a scientific assessment that demonstrates several fisheries are in a threatening situation.
How Is the European Commission Addressing the Crisis in Baltic Sea Fisheries?
The European Commission proposed the total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for nine out of the ten stocks controlled by the EU in the Baltic Sea. The remaining quota bid (Bothnian herring) will be submitted at a later stage.
What Are the Proposed Fishing Quota Changes for the Baltic Sea in 2025?
The European Commission proposes to expand fishing opportunities for central Baltic herring (+108%) and herring in the Gulf of Riga (+10%). It offers to decrease fishing of salmon in the main bay (-36%) and the Gulf of Finland (-20%), as well as of sprat (-42%). Catches of plaice would remain intact. The EU Commission proposes to reduce the allocations for unavoidable by-catches of western Baltic cod (-73%), eastern Baltic cod (-68%) and western Baltic herring (-50%).
What Scientific Evidence Supports the EU’s Fishing Proposals for 2025?
The suggested TACs are based on the best available scientific guidance from the International Council on the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and follow the Baltic Sea multiannual management plan assumed in 2016 by the European Parliament and the Council. In the next steps based on these proposals, EU countries will push a final decision to choose the maximum quantities of the most significant commercial fish species that can be caught in the Baltic Sea basin. The EU Council will discuss the Commission’s proposal by assuming it during its meeting on 21-22 October 2024.
Why Is the EU Reducing Fishing Quotas for Certain Baltic Sea Species?
The fishing opportunities bid is part of the European Union’s policy to adjust the levels of fishing to long-term sustainability marks, called maximum sustainable yield (MSY), as approved by the European Parliament and the Council in the Common Fisheries Policy. The EU Commission’s proposal is also in line with the Multiannual Plan for the management of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea and with the policy intentions described in the EU Commission’s Communication “Sustainable fishing in the EU: state of play and orientations for 2025″.
The current situation is hard for fishers as formerly important commercial stocks (western and eastern cod; western and central herring; sprat; and salmon in the southern Baltic Sea and rivers) are subject to different pressures which have directed to the degradation of the Baltic Sea’s biodiversity, such as increased nutrient inputs and persistently high levels of contaminants. These stressors, in part, stem from losses in implementing EU legislation.Â
Furthermore, the scientific guidance also recognises the effect of misreporting of fishing, without being able to quantify it. Misreporting potentially leads to remote overfishing. To allow fishers in the Baltic Sea, Member States and coastal regions can utilise the European Social Fund Plus to implement measures for lifelong learning and skills development.
