At the recent HELCOM Heads of Delegation meeting, 14-15 December, a commitment was made to initiate closer cooperation with BALTFISH.
We welcome such a development as part of efforts to harmonise work on Baltic fisheries and marine management. It builds on the commitment made by the respective Chairs of the two institutions at the recent seminar on BALTFISH, organised by the Fisheries Secretariat.
HELCOM will try to plan for bridging knowledge between the marine environment and fisheries management. To this end, they will work on the regional follow-up of global decisions. Specifically in reference to the UN sustainable development goals.
At present there is no formal collaboration between BALTFISH and HELCOM. Now, the latter body has committed to an annual exchange of reports, main decisions taken, and the schedule of planned meetings. This along with a regular information exchange between the institutions will help to make better use of the research and knowledge available on the Baltic Sea and go some way toward harmonising the objectives of environmental and fisheries managers.