On 10 March the Swedish and Danish Ministers of Fisheries, Eskil Erlandsson and Eva Kjer Hansen met to discuss collective actions in order to safeguard the Kattegat cod stocks. Within a year the cod fisheries can be temporarily closed during the spawning season.
Eskil Erlandsson reports to be satisfied with the dialogue kept with his Danish colleague in Malmoe on 10 March, where a strengthened collaboration between the countries on a more sustainable management of the Kattegat cod was agreed. Among other things the possibility to implement Marine Protected Areas was discussed at the meeting.
“Already in the end of March, experts from our countries will meet in Copenhagen to discuss how to implement a fishing closure during the cod spawning period”, the ministers report on the Swedish ministry of agriculture and fisheries’ official web site.
“I predict that we will be able achieve a temporary closure already next season”, says Eskil Erlandsson to Swedish television. His Danish colleague expresses herself in a more careful way, saying that she is open to the Swedish suggestions, which apart from fishing closures also include better collaboration between the two countries’ fisheries control authorities.
Both ministers agree that there is an urgent need for more selective fishing gear as more than 50% of the catch in the Kattegat is discarded, meaning 800 tonnes of dead fish thrown back into the sea annually.