Brussels, 14/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - European fisheries ministers reached unanimous agreement at their meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 13 October on next year's total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas in the Baltic Sea, based on a compromise text from the Italian Presidency.
Ministers decided to restrict TAC rises for herring in 2015. The Commission had proposed rises of between 12% and 51% but the Council limited them to between 12% and 45%, including a 15% increase for the stock in the Gulf of Bothnia (to 158,470 tonnes). Fishing effort for cod has been rolled over in 2015, remaining at 147 days in the western zone and 146 in the eastern.
For cod, the Council agreed: - a 22% TAC reduction for the Eastern Baltic stock to 51,429 tonnes (the Commission had recommended a 20% reduction); - a 7% reduction for the western stock to 15,900 (the Commission had called for a 48% drop!). For plaice, the TAC remains at the same level as in 2014 (3,409 tonnes). Agreement was reached on a 10% TAC reduction for salmon in the main basin and no change in the Gulf of Finland (13,106 tonnes). Initially, the Commission proposed a reduction of 17% in the sprat TAC but the Council agreed an 11% reduction to 213,581 tonnes.
It should be noted that, in the Baltic, the landing obligation (end of discards) begins on 1 January 2015 for herring, sprat, salmon and cod.
“This is the first time that the new common fisheries policy framework has been applied”, said the chair of the Council, Maurizio Martina (our translation). Maria Damanaki, for whom this was the last Council meeting as Commissioner (she spoke of a “fascinating” time) hailed the agreement on the Baltic, even if her proposal had been more ambitious. She noted, too, that this compromise (“a great success”) showed that “not everything happens in Brussels”, thanks to the principle of regionalisation (the countries discussed TAC proposals at regional level). “We are about to increase to six the number of stocks fished according to MSY (maximum sustainable yield)”, the commissioner said (our translation).
Russian embargo. Some delegations pointed out that Russia's import ban also had severe repercussions on EU fisheries, in particular on the pelagic industries. The Commission mentioned possible solutions, such as the use of storage aid, aid to temporary cessation, state aid. In addition, the possibility of allowing the transfer of part of this year's quota to 2015 (25%, rather than the usual 10%) was proposed for certain pelagic fisheries under the form of banking provisions in the framework of the agreement on Baltic TACs and quotas.