In the early hours of the morning, the Estonian Presidency of the EU announced that the trilogue negotiations between the Parliament, Council and Commission had been concluded on the North Sea multiannual management plan (NSMAP). The final document will not be made public until later this month.
The agreed record of the fisheries consultation between Norway and the European Union for 2018 was recently published. It contains some very interesting and relevant discussions and agreements.
On 11 & 12 December, the Fisheries Council will meet to agree fishing quotas in the Northeast Atlantic and North Sea for 2018. Ahead of this meeting, the Fisheries Secretariat, together with Seas At Risk, Pew, Oceana, ClientEarth, have called on EU Fisheries Ministers to follow current scientific advice and end overfishing.
FishSec is recruiting a fisheries policy officer to work with the implementation of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), focusing on regionalisation and fisheries management in the Baltic Sea. Work tasks include analysing scientific advice and policy proposals, writing policy briefs, as well as extensive contact with other stakeholders i.e. through the Baltic Sea Advisory … Continued
This year’s quota setting for Baltic cod raises serious questions as to whether data poor fish stocks receive necessary protection and the precautionary approach is being applied, which according to experts is a legal obligation.
After the longest negotiation in a decade the EU Member States reached a compromise on Baltic fishing quotas, early morning on 10 October. Baltic Cod will continue to be overfished next year compared to ICES advice. Fishing for the critically endangered European eel continues, but an EU-wide prohibition will be discussed ahead of the December council.
Today, Sunday 8 October, the Baltfish high-level group of civil servants will sit down and carve out the regional political compromise that will form he basis for fisheries ministers decision on Baltic Sea fishing qutoas 2018. The final decisions will be taken at the Agrifish council, 9-10 October. But any compromise made in Baltfish is very unlikely changed by the Council. But are Baltfish recommendations, and thus de-facto decisions on quotas, based on – or even consider – all relevant Articles of the Common Fisheries Policy?
A proposal and recommendations developed by the Finnish Ministry on behalf of Baltfish for the salmon management plan, which has been stalled since 2012, was presented at the latest BSAC ecosystem based management working group.
Already in 2009 the Danish government shouldered the responsibility of eradicating discards in the Baltic Sea through a flagship project under the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSBSR. Eight years later Denmark is blaming its own fishing industry for the failure to stop the continued discards, a practice that has been illegal since 2015.
A recent briefing highlights environmental failure and missed socio-economic opportunities by the Danish and German governments.