ICES advice for the Baltic 2010
Published: 23/06/2009When ICES experts presented their advice for Baltic quotas in 2010, it was the first time in years they recommended increases for both Baltic cod stocks.
As for the Baltic herring, predictions were bleaker. The largest of the stocks is now classified as "at risk" of being harvested unsustainably. The stock size is about 41 per cent of the long-time average. The fishing mortality has gone up, and exceeds what the precautionary approach stipulates. The last strong year class was the one on 2002.
ICES further recommended that no wild salmon at all should be caught in the Gulf of Finland, and that catches in the main basin and the Bothnian Bay should be reduced by almost 60 per cent. Since only a small part of the TACs have been utilized in later years, however, this is in practice an adjustment to the actual effort.
Formally, the advice was asked for in a communication issued by the Commission in May. The communication says that the final proposal from the Commission, to be presented in September in the case of the 2010 Baltic quotas, must be set “at a level which ensures sustainable exploitation of resources in environmental, economic and social terms”.
Before that, two advisory bodies, the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF)and the Baltic Regional Advisory Council BRAC) will have their say by 19 June (STECF) and 30 June (BRAC), respectively.
The final decision on the Baltic quotas for 2010 will be made by the EU ministers at their October Council meeting.