On Tuesday 23 August, the European Commission adopted its proposal to renew the levels of certain Total Allowable Catches (TACs) in the Baltic Sea, following the difficult decisions taken at the end of 2021 concerning certain herring and cod stocks (see EUROPE 12810/10).
The European Commission proposes to increase the fishing possibilities for central herring (+14% to 61,051 tonnes) and plaice (+25% to 11,313 tonnes) in 2023 compared to 2022.
Furthermore, it suggests maintaining the two salmon TACs (Main Basin and Gulf of Finland), the expected by-catches of western cod (489 tonnes only) and eastern cod (595 tonnes) and the TAC for western herring (788 tonnes) at current levels.
The Commission proposes to reduce fishing possibilities for the other stocks: Bothnian herring (-28%, to 80,074 t), Riga herring (-4%, to 45,643 t) and sprat (-20%, to 201,554 t).
EU fisheries ministers will set the Baltic TACs at their meeting on 17-18 October.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, said he was “worried about the poor environmental status of the Baltic Sea. Despite some improvements, we are still suffering from the combined effects of eutrophication and slow response to tackle this challenge”.
Link to the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/2s8 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)