In a report published on Wednesday 4 September, the European Commission considers that the Multiannual Plan for managing fish stocks in the Baltic Sea has proved to be a useful tool for implementing the common fisheries policy (CFP), particularly for setting fishing opportunities (see EUROPE 13468/1).
However, the report shows that the corresponding catch volumes have almost halved since 2017 and some fisheries have been closed since 2020 (eastern cod) or 2022 (western cod and western herring).
The Commission believes that the degradation of fish stocks and fisheries is not attributable to the Multiannual Plan’s implementation, but to changes in the wider ecosystem. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) refers to false declarations concerning certain species, which could also have negative effects.
Furthermore, the Commission “remains of the view that the continuing problem of discards is primarily a control and enforcement issue to be addressed within the EU’s fisheries control system”. Almost all the stakeholders consulted were of the opinion, says the report, that the Multiannual Plan hadn’t helped to reduce discards and that it did not take into account the situation of mixed fisheries.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/dbo (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)