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Following scientific assessment, the European Commission adopted new proposals for the fishing opportunities around the Baltic Sea in 2025; the assessment indicated a “complicated situation” for several fisheries in the region. For example, the proposal includes total allowable catches and quotas for nine out of the ten stocks managed by the EU in the Baltic Sea. The remaining quota proposal (e.g. Bothnian herring) will be submitted at a later stage.
Background
The Baltic Sea is the most polluted sea in Europe: the sea’s quality is affected by biodiversity loss, climate change, eutrophication, past overfishing and elevated levels of contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and litter. Concerned about this dire situation, the European Commission organised two Baltic conferences in 2020 and 2023, which brought together sectoral ministers from eight EU countries surrounding the Baltic Sea: Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Sweden.
On conferences in: https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/our-baltic-conference_en
According to the EU fishing policy, living marine biological resources have to be exploited in a way that restores and maintains populations of harvested species above levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield, MSY. An important tool for ensuring this is the annual fixing of fishing opportunities in the form of total allowable catches, TACs and quotas.
The main part of the EU-wide fishing policy is to regulate fishing opportunities and adjust the levels of fishing according to the long-term sustainability targets, i.e. the MSY and are agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in the EU Common Fisheries Policy, CFP. Present Commission’s proposal is in line with the Multiannual Plan for the management of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea and is in line with the CFP’s directions expressed in the Commission’s “Sustainable fishing in the EU: state of play and orientations for 2025″.
More in: https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/publications/sustainable-fishing-eu-state-play-and-orientations-2024_en
Present proposal aims to fix fishing opportunities for 2025 for the most commercially significant fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. It also aims to regulate marine recreational fisheries to the extent required to conserve the fish stocks; to simplify and clarify the annual TAC and quota decisions, fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea have been fixed by a separate regulation since 2006.
Note. See the proposal for a Council Regulation fixing fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea for 2025 and amending Regulation 2024/257 regarding certain fishing opportunities in other waters. The proposal is in accordance with the Union’s exclusive competence referred to in Article 3(1)(d) TFEU; therefore, the subsidiarity principle does not apply.
Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2024%3A386%3AFIN.
The current situation is difficult for fishers as formerly important commercial stocks (such as western and eastern cod, western and central herring, sprat, as well as salmon in the southern Baltic Sea and rivers) are subject to various pressures which have led to the degradation of the Baltic Sea’s biodiversity, such as high nutrient inputs and persistently high levels of contaminants. These stressors, in part, stem from failures to implement EU legislation. Furthermore, the scientific advice also recognizes the impact of misreporting of fishing, without being able to quantify it, which leads potentially to a hidden overfishing. To help fishers in the Baltic Sea, the member states and coastal regions can use the European Social Fund Plus to implement measures for lifelong learning and skills development.
Citation
“I am worried about the poor state of the Baltic Sea fish stocks. The importance of taking action to address the dire state of key commercial species is becoming more evident every year. Fishers are the first to face the consequences, despite our joint efforts to rebuild fish stock populations. To make sure that local fishers can again rely on healthy fish stocks for their livelihoods, it is indispensable to fully implement the EU legislation at all levels”.
Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President for European Green Deal.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_4401
The proposal
The Commission proposes to increase fishing opportunities for central Baltic herring (+108%) and herring in the Gulf of Riga (+10%). It also proposes to decrease fishing of salmon in the main basin (-36%) and in the Gulf of Finland (-20%), as well as of sprat (-42%); but catches of plaice would remain unchanged. The Commission proposes to decrease the allocations for unavoidable by-catches of western Baltic cod (-73%), eastern Baltic cod (-68%) and western Baltic herring (-50%).
The proposed TACs are based on the best available scientific advice from the International Council on the Exploration of the Seas, ICES and follow the Baltic Sea multiannual management plan adopted in 2016 by the European Parliament and the Council.
More on the “management plan” in the regulation: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2016.191.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2016:191:TOC
The following fish stocks are to be regulated:
= Cod: for eastern Baltic cod, the Commission intends to keep a catch limit for unavoidable by-catches and all the accompanying measures in place already for several years. However, since the stock continues to be in a bad condition, the by-catch limit should be adjusted to the actual needs. Despite the measures taken since 2019, when scientists first warned about the poor status of cod, the situation has not improved. The situation is similar for western Baltic cod. The Commission therefore proposes to adjust the by-catch TAC to actual needs, and to keep all the accompanying measures.
= Herring: the stock size of western Baltic herring remains significantly below minimum levels. The Commission proposes removing the exemption for small-scale coastal fisheries and adjusting the TAC to unavoidable by-catches only. The stock size of central Baltic herring has increased above the minimum level since last year. ICES forecasts a very positive stock development due to high estimated recruitment but emphasizes that the forecast is more uncertain than usual. The Commission therefore proposes a cautious approach and will not propose to increase the TAC up to the maximum level included in the ICES advice. Herring in the Gulf of Riga is healthy; thus, the Commission proposes to set the catch limits according to the maximum recommended by ICES.
= Plaice: while scientific advice would allow for a considerable increase, the Commission remains cautious, mainly to protect cod – which is an unavoidable by-catch when fishing for plaice. New measures to reduce cod by-catches through alternative fishing gear are expected to enter into force this year.
= Sprat: the size of the sprat stock has decreased significantly due to persistently low reproduction rates. Scientists warn that the stock size could fall below healthy levels if reproduction is lower than expected. Therefore, scientific advice for sprat recommends a substantial reduction in catches. The Commission proposes to set the TAC at a level that minimizes the risk of the stock size decreasing below the minimum level.
= Salmon: the status of the different river salmon populations in the Baltic main basin varies considerably, with some remaining weak and others healthy. To achieve healthy levels, ICES advised three years ago to close all salmon fisheries in the main basin; at the same time, ICES assessed that it would be possible to maintain certain fisheries during the summer in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Åland Sea. ICES maintained the approach for 2025 but decreased the related catch level because reproduction rates have decreased in recent years. The Commission therefore proposes adjusting the fishing opportunities and the accompanying rules accordingly, notably by banning recreational fishing for reared salmon, which unavoidably also causes the death of wild salmon.
Perspectives
Based on these proposals, the EU member states will take a final decision to determine the maximum quantities of the most important commercial fish species that can be caught in the Baltic Sea basin. The Council will examine the Commission’s proposal in view of adopting it during its meeting during 21-22 October 2024.
More information in the Commission’s websites: = Proposal fishing opportunities Baltic Sea 2025, and -Questions and Answers on Fishing Opportunities in the Baltic Sea in 2025.