Responding to annual scientific advice for 2022 EU fishing limits in the Baltic Sea by ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea), a group of non-governmental organisations is demanding that the European Commission follow the scientific advice and calls for an immediate transition to ecosystem-based, climate-smart, low-impact fishing.
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This would require, for example, closing the fisheries for Eastern Baltic cod and Western herring and effectively protecting cod spawning grounds from all fishing.
The scientific advice shows that the Baltic Sea is going through an ecosystem shift, with western herring and eastern cod stocks depleted to such low levels that ICES advises that they can not support any commercial fishing at all in 2022, and that the herring fishery in the central Baltic must be greatly reduced.
ICES will not deliver advice on two key fish stocks, the western Baltic cod and the salmon populations; both release dates are postponed to September.
“The trend is clear: because we are losing the ability to manage our Baltic fish populations with fishing quotas, we must transition to an ecosystem-based management system with low impact fishing only. Considering the overall ecosystem health, we really must also consider the option not to fish at all on a larger scale, on any fish stock in the Baltic Sea,†said Nils Höglund, Fisheries Policy Officer, Coalition Clean Baltic.
“Fisheries management in the fragile Baltic Sea ecosystem requires more caution. We call on the European Commission to not only propose Baltic fishing limits for 2022 that do not exceed scientific advice, but also to implement an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management in line with Common Fisheries Policy objective, and consider setting Baltic Total Allowable Catches at lower levelsâ€, said Ottilia Thoreson, Director, WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme.
“The latest scientific advice clearly confirms the failure in the management of Baltic fish populations. Consistently exceeding scientific advice has depleted fish populations such as eastern Baltic cod or western Baltic herring to the extent that scientists recommend the closure of these fisheriesâ€, said Javier López, Campaign Director for Sustainable Fisheries at Oceana in Europe.
“There is an urgent need to recover these fish populations and incorporate wider ecosystem considerations into their management. Only in this way can fishing activity be part of the solution to the environmental crisis in the Baltic Seaâ€.
“The collapse of eastern Baltic cod shows that when too many vessels chase too few fish, overfishing, illegal discards and damage to the ecosystem occurâ€, said Jan Isakson, Director at FishSec.
“To reverse the negative trends for Baltic Sea fish populations the EU Commission and coastal state governments must implement all aspects of EU fisheries and environmental law, including reducing the number of fishers and vessels operating there, and giving preferential access to quota and fishing areas for low impact passive gear fishers. Fishers should be supported to transition into new jobs with retraining, paid for by the EU fisheries fundâ€.
“The Baltic Sea is going into cardiac arrest - after years of fisheries ministers approving continued overfishing, allowing illegal discarding and turning a blind eye to misreporting of catches, scientists are now recommending radical halts to fishing due to population crashes.
"The European Commission must introduce full ecosystem and climate impact assessments for all fishing fleets through the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Action Plan, and Baltic Member States must only allow access to low-impact fishingâ€, said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director with Our Fish. ■