Ensuring sustainable Baltic and Black Sea fisheries
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© European Communities
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On 27 October 2008 the Agriculture and Fisheries Council reached agreement on a Regulation establishing fishing opportunities for Community vessels in the Baltic Sea for 2009. The Regulation sets total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas, i.e. the breakdown between Member States concerned. The aim is to ensure balanced, sustainable exploitation of aquatic resources, based on scientific assessment of the state of stocks, while making allowance for economic, environmental and social aspects.
For the western Baltic cod stocks, which after a slight improvement are now again below safe biological limits, TACs are to be reduced by 15 %. The relatively sound state of the eastern Baltic stock, on the other hand, makes it possible to increase the TAC by 15 %.
TACs for herring are also to be reduced for better conservation of the stock. The Council called for a 39 % decrease in the TAC for western Baltic herring (particularly under threat) and a more limited reduction in other areas. The TAC for sprat, a member of the herring family, is also to be cut.
Salmon stocks are in a worrying state, particularly because of the declining survival rate for young fish. The Baltic TAC is to be reduced by 15 %, but the TAC for the Gulf of Finland can remain at the same level, provided national measures are introduced to protect wild salmon. For plaice, Member States agreed on a 5 % lower TAC.
They also reached agreement on a Regulation establishing fishing opportunities in the Black Sea for 2009. The Regulation concerns the two Member States bordering on that sea: Bulgaria and Romania. It also makes provision for cooperation with non‑member countries bordering on the Black Sea.
The Council agreed on an unchanged TAC of 100 tonnes for turbot, provisionally divided equally between Bulgaria and Romania, and a TAC of 12 750 tonnes for sprat, 15 % lower than for 2008.
In addition to TACs and quotas, the Council adopted "technical" conservation measures, such as the number of days at sea allowed and a ban on the use of some types of fishing gear.
Deep‑sea fisheries
The Council also reached agreement on a Regulation concerning deep‑sea fishing opportunities for Community vessels for 2009 and 2010. Total allowable catches (TACs) for deep‑sea stocks are to be considerably reduced.
Deep‑sea fish are remarkably long‑lived, with orange roughy capable of living for up to 150 years, but they are slow‑growing and reach reproductive maturity very late in their life cycle. This makes them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. Since the 1990s, the depletion of stocks in Community waters, coupled with the development of increasingly efficient fishing gear and methods, has increased the attraction of deep‑sea fishing, at depths of from 500 m to 1 000 m.
Overfishing has brought a decline in the biological state of many stocks. In 2006 the EU therefore introduced the first harmonised regulation of deep‑sea fishing, calling for a gradual reduction in catches, so as to arrive at sustainable fisheries, and even aiming for zero catches of the most fragile stocks. In relation to Community landings as whole, deep‑sea fishing accounts for only a tiny proportion of catches. It is engaged in particularly in the North‑East Atlantic, by French, Spanish, Portuguese, United Kingdom and Irish vessels.
For further information:
Council press release(fr) (pdf)
Forthcoming events
ECOFIN Council meeting in Brussels on 4 November 2008
Competitiveness Council meeting in Brussels on 6 November 2008
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