Brussels, 10/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 10 November, the Council of the EU adopted, without debate, the fishing opportunities for certain stocks and groups of stocks in the Baltic Sea (details in EUROPE 11176).
The countries which fish in the Baltic are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Adoption of this text follows on from the unanimous political agreement reached in Luxembourg on 13 October, that provided, in particular, for quota increases for herring (between 12% and 45%) but a catch reduction for cod (22% cut in the TAC - total allowable catch - for the Eastern Baltic stock, to 51,429 tonnes, and -7%, to 15,900 tonnes for the western cod stock). The TAC for plaice remains at the same level in 2014, including +15% for the Gulf of Bothnia stock, to 158,470 tonnes. The fishing effort for cod has been carried over into 2015: 147 days in the western zone and 146 days in the eastern section. For salmon, ministers agreed on a 10% TAC reduction in the main basin and no change in the Gulf of Finland. Initially the Commission proposed to cut the sprat TAC by 17%. The reduction agreed by the Council will be 11%, to 213,581 tonnes. (LC)