On Monday 28 August, the European Commission adopted a partial proposal on fishing opportunities in the waters of the Baltic Sea in 2024, but announced its intention to maintain the closure of targeted fishing activities for cod, western herring and certain salmon stocks.
The Commission has proposed Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas for just three of the ten stocks managed in the Baltic Sea. The remaining proposals will be made after analysis of the new scientific data expected.
The Commission is proposing a 7% increase next year in fishing opportunities for salmon in the Gulf of Finland (to 10,144 fish), but is suggesting a 15% reduction in the salmon TAC in the main basin (to 53,967 fish). The Commission suggests a 20% reduction (to 36,514 tonnes by 2024) in herring catches in the Gulf of Riga.
As regards the other Baltic stocks (western cod, eastern cod, western Baltic herring, Bothnian herring, central herring, sprat and plaice), the Commission has requested additional information from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in order to take better account of the fact that cod is caught together with flatfish, and herring together with sprat.
Scientists estimate that the size of the central Baltic herring stock has been close to or below minimum levels since the early 1990s. The size of the Bothnian herring stock has fallen below healthy levels due to the lower number of young fish and the smaller size of older fish.
Extension of restrictions. The Commission announces that it will propose to close targeted fisheries on these two stocks and that it will maintain the closure of targeted fisheries on cod, western herring and salmon stocks in most major basins. The Commission is proposing to extend the current restrictions until 2024, with the exception of the derogation from the closure of cod spawning for certain herring fisheries, which the Commission is proposing to close.
The Commission will propose setting by-catch TACs for western cod, eastern cod, western herring, Bothnian herring and central basin herring on the basis of additional information expected in the autumn. This proposal will allow vessels to land the unavoidable catches of each of these stocks when fishing for plaice or sprat, for example.
Recreational fishing. With cod in the eastern Baltic in a very poor state, scientists have advised that all catches, including recreational catches, should be stopped. The Commission is therefore proposing to maintain this ban, which has already been in force since 2020.
For cod in the Western Baltic, recreational fishing in 2022 was limited to one cod per fisherman per day. ICES estimates that recreational catches in 2022 amounted to 288 tonnes, or around 70% of total commercial and recreational catches. The ICES opinion forecasts a total of 24 tonnes in 2024. The Commission explains that this is why it is not possible to maintain a recreational cod fishery in the western Baltic Sea.
The proposed TACs are based on the best available scientific advice from ICES and comply with the rules of the multi-annual management plan for the Baltic Sea adopted in 2016.
Despite the measures taken since 2019, when scientists warned of the poor state of cod, the situation has yet to improve.
Link to the proposal and its annex with the TACs: https://aeur.eu/f/8cy (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)