The European Commission today adopted a long-term plan to improve further the state of the northern hake stock in EU waters. This plan will replace the recovery plan which has been in place since 2004, and which has successfully helped the northern hake stock recover from almost collapse to the safe target size advised by scientists. The new plan wants to carry this positive trend forward through an approach that will secure the long-term sustainability of the northern hake stock. The concrete benefits of the plan will be higher catches, lower costs, less impact on the marine environment and lower discards of juvenile hake. It will notably benefit the long-term profitability for the fishing sector targeting this stock.