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BALTFISH: Fisheries as part of integrated Baltic Sea marine management – what are the challenges & opportunities?

Published on October 20, 2016

At the upcoming EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) meeting, The Fisheries Secretariat is organising a seminar to discuss BALTFISH, the regional management body established under the Flagship Project: “Regionalisation of fisheries management in the Baltic Sea” in 2010. This will be the first opportunity for a public discussion forum to meet and reflect on the institution and its role in managing the Baltic Sea fisheries.

We will discuss how BALTFISH can best be developed as a political forum for regional decisions that promote the marine ecosystem services that the Baltic Sea provides and so increase prosperity.

In our view, as the EU has regionalised its fisheries policy, the CFP, and regional institutions have been developed in order to facilitate this and to develop a common vision. Currently their remit is too limited to safeguard the Baltic and its fish stocks. The CFP makes a clear commitment to implementing ecosystem-based management through its fisheries policy and we will discuss how regional bodies, such as BALTFISH, can help to put this into practice.

Our seminar will focus on what participants would like to see in terms of an integrated functional regional management body. Then discuss the concrete steps necessary to reach our shared goal.

The EUSBSR meeting will be looking toward regional goals to be achieved by 2030. Therefore, this Forum represents a timely opportunity to evaluate BALTFISH and discuss the challenges and opportunities it faces.

The panel will feature representatives from the BALTFISH Presidency, European Commission, academia, the fishing industry and NGOs.