Ahead of the upcoming Agri Council, an EAPO delegation met Commissioner Sinkevičius and his department to discuss issues relating to the management of Central Baltic Herring.
EAPO members from Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were given the opportunity to present their issues relating to the quality of ICES’s scientific advice, the estimated socio-economic impacts and the unique dynamics of fisheries in the Baltic.
‘We trust science,’ highlighted EAPO President Esben Sverdrup-Jensen.
‘However, EAPO members are concerned with the quality of ICES’s advice on Central Baltic Herring issued after this year’s benchmark. How can a stock that has been stable for more than 30 years suddenly be under critical thresholds, without clear indications in scientific surveys or in what fishers have observed. EAPO members underlined the need for greater transparency around ICES and call for the European Commission to request that ICES revisits the recent benchmark and its benchmarking procedures in general. The new and untested approach to ICES advice on this stock is not only considered controversial within the scientific community, it also seems to be out of touch with the reality at sea.’
He commented that the Commission’s proposal to decrease sprat TACs to limit the impact of fishing activities on herring is not in line with the proven expertise of fishers, who have shown themselves capable of maintaining low by-catches of herring when targeting sprat.
The Commission stressed the legal interpretation of Article 4.6 of the Baltic Sea Multi Annual Plan – and EAPO challenged this legal assessment, as this reading of the article contradicts the long-term goals of the Common Fisheries Policy, stating that setting management in the short term is against the purpose of having a MultiAnnual Plan.
According to ICES advice, setting a rollover TAC would ensure an increase in biomass of 20%. EAPO members push for this option to be considered. Setting a rollover TAC would also limit the impact on Baltic Sea fishers that has been estimated to be more than €60 million.
