At the ‘Our Baltic’ high-level conference attended by ministers and senior officials from eight EU countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden) on Friday 29 September in Palanga (Lithuania), the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, stated that there were “not enough fish” in the Baltic Sea in relation to the “fishing capacity of the fleet” of the EU.
“Cod stocks have virtually collapsed. We are facing a similar situation with the decline in herring stocks. And all this has an impact on other fish stocks, because of by-catches”, warned the Commissioner at a press conference (see EUROPE 13237/2). Decisions have been taken since 2020, but the problem remains the ecological state of the Baltic Sea, added the Commissioner.
The ministers also made commitments to safely manage munitions dumped in the Baltic Sea. The Commission is providing budgetary support (a €2 million call for proposals) to identify key geographical areas and carry out risk assessments.
In a report, the Commission presented the progress made in implementing the 2020 ministerial declaration resulting from the first ‘Our Baltic’ conference (https://aeur.eu/f/8t0 ).
Link to the ministers’ statement on mining: https://aeur.eu/f/8sz (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)