Asked by MEPs from the Greens/EFA and S&D groups about the possibility of suspending fishing operations in the Baltic Sea in order to restore stocks, the European Commission replied on Thursday 16 October that given “the scientific advice that we have (...) we would not legally have the right basis for a total closure of the Baltic Sea”.
However, Maja Kirchner, head of unit at the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), told the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries that “of course, it is absolutely possible to take additional measures”.
In her view, EU Member States could decide for themselves “to pause (...) one fishery or the other or all of them” and mobilise all available financial resources in the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). This also includes instruments beyond the fisheries sector, to help fishermen stay afloat or provide aid for the destruction of vessels, added Ms Kirchner.
“We need to come to a more balanced situation in the Baltic Sea. We [clearly] have too many vessels for all the fish to go around”, she stressed.
Most MEPs called on the EU Council to follow the European Commission’s proposals when they set total allowable catches (TACs) for 2026 in the Baltic Sea on 27 and 28 October (see EUROPE 13721/11). Emma Wiesner (Renew Europe, Swedish), however, called for reducing central herring catches, whereas the Commission is proposing to maintain 2025 levels (83,881 tonnes).
The Commission has issued a warning: “If something happens in a year, two years, three years down the line because the decisions from Council were simply not sustainable enough, then we know where the fault lies, and we know that we should have done more and much earlier”, warned Ms Kirchner (see EUROPE 13695/9).
She pointed out that the EU had not acted in time for cod in the eastern and western Baltic, nor for herring in the west, which is now in a critical situation.
In her view, immediate action is now needed to save the remaining major fisheries in the Baltic, namely the pelagic fisheries (herring and sprat). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)