A political agreement on the fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea for 2025 has been reached by the Council of the European Union has reached, following the Commission’s proposal in August this year.
These include a rollover for the plaice TAC and a 31% reduction in Baltic sprat. By-catch TACs have been set for both eastern and western cod.
Western Baltic herring – in principle – will also be a by-catch-only TAC, but the Council has maintained an exception for small-scale coastal fisheries. Catches of salmon in the main basin are also limited to by-catches, except during the summer in the coastal areas of the Aland Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia.
The agreement allows considerable increases in catches of Bothnian herring (+21%), Riga herring (+10%), and central Baltic herring (+108%).
While the Council has followed the Commission’s proposal on numerous elements, the European Commission remains concerned that some elements of the agreement are less likely to contribute to the recovery of certain stocks than proposed and may not be in line with the applicable legal framework, including the Baltic multiannual plan.
This is the case for the total allowable catches (TACs) for sprat and western herring, as well as continued targeted commercial fisheries for western Baltic herring and recreational fisheries for main basin salmon.
According to the Commission, the overall dire environmental state of the Baltic Sea urgently requires ‘full implementation of EU legislation at all levels in an effective and systematic manner’.
