Demersal fishing in the Baltic Sea has been dealt a huge blow by the Council of Ministers on Monday night when they reached agreement on fishing opportunities for 2017 in the Baltic. The ministers ended up agreeing on a quota reduction of no less than 56% for cod in the Western Baltic Sea, while the quota for cod in the Eastern Baltic Sea was reduced by 25%.
Danish PO Danmarks Fiskeriforening is appalled that the EU Commission has decided to follow the recommendations for western Baltic cod quota without taking into account fishermen's arguments, predicting a death knell for the fishery if the proposal is adopted at the Council meeting in October.
Europêche has hit back at the Commission's 2017 proposals for Baltic cod allocations, which sees a colossal decrease from last year's figures. The quota proposed for Western Baltic cod amounts to 1588 tonnes, down 88% from 2016 figures and a reduction of almost 40% for the Eastern stock.
The MMO has published the results of the 2015 trials with 18 North Sea vessels fitted with Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) devices to fish under a discard ban for cod in Area IV.
Arctic cod are clearly highly susceptible to oil pollution, according to Otto Gregussen of the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association, commenting on research carried out by the University of Tromsø.
Elusive saithe can disappear and then just as suddenly reappear, according to one of HB Grandi’s skippers, now fishing off the Westfjords of Iceland.
1200 tonnes of quota in the Russian zone of the Barents Sea was yesterday auctioned in the Faroe Islands.
Iceland’s National Association of Small Boat Owners (NASBO) has criticised the decision by fisheries minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson to follow the Marine Research Institute’s advice in setting quotas for 2016-17.
The European Commission has announced an agreement on amending the rules currently in place for protecting cod stocks.
ICES advice will provide the basis for the Commission's proposal on fishing opportunities in the Baltic region for 2017 which will be published in the autumn. The Council will then decide the final fishing possibilities in October. Europêche has made its own recommendations specifically on Western Baltic Cod following the publication of ICES data and pinpointing shortfalls in the data provided.
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