An analysis commissioned by the European Parliament, which will be reviewed by the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries on Thursday 4 September, confirms that four of the seven Baltic fish stocks managed under a multiannual plan are in critical danger.
These threatened stocks include cod in the Eastern and Western Baltic, herring in the Central Baltic and spring-spawning herring in the Western Baltic. According to this study, the biomass of spawning stocks is well below the critical threshold (Blim), which seriously compromises their reproductive capacity.
The analysis highlights that the multi-year plan, designed to restore and maintain fish populations above Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) levels, has largely failed. Overfishing, combined with low productivity and an extremely low biomass, makes it difficult to rebuild stocks, even if fishing effort is reduced.
The authors point out that the EU Council frequently sets higher Total Allowable Catches (TACs) than recommended by scientific advice, “exacerbating the problem”.
Link to the study: https://aeur.eu/f/i82 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)