Past Events

On March 20, 2025, the NSAC and BSAC will jointly host a Workshop on Seals & Cormorants in the North and Baltic Seas. The date has been changed from the previously announced one due to scheduling conflicts with other meetings. The workshop will be held in-person only in Luleå, Sweden, and both BSAC and NSAC members, as well as observers, are welcome to attend.

The discussion surrounding predation by seals and cormorants, and the call for this workshop, obviously comes from the fishing industry. As NSAC members, we have sought to shape the Terms of Reference to ensure a more neutral, science-based foundation for discussion. However, an agreed version has not yet been finalized. A key unresolved issue is the starting point of the discussion—the industry asserts that seals and cormorants are the problem, but the underlying concern, as they describe it, is the decline of juvenile cod and the overall poor status of several fish stocks, particularly in the Baltic, Skagerrak, and Kattegat.

For us, it is essential that the workshop’s outcome includes the possibility that no direct action will be taken against seals and cormorants, should the scientific basis not support it.

Monday 17 March

•  15:00-18:30

Tuesday 18 March

• 09:00-12:30 14:30-18:30

On the 4th of March, a workshop on ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) of the HELCOM Working Group on Ecosystem-based Sustainable Fisheries (WG FISH) is held. The objectives of the workshop are to develop and finalise a HELCOM common understanding of ecosystem-based fisheries management that can be used in future processes and to come to common understanding on high-level principles of EBFM. On the 5th and 6th of March, the HELCOM Working Group on Ecosystem-based Sustainable Fisheries will hold it's Informal Consultation Session, where progress of the tasks of the workplan of the group is discussed and future work is planned.

Links:

• Event page

The week will feature a series of events to discuss and shape future EU policies and initiatives on the ocean and waters, notably the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters, the European Ocean Pact and the European Water Resilience Strategy. Bringing together different actors and communities including youth, research, innovation and academia, regions, cities, ports and islands as well as the BlueInvest and European Blue Parks community, the week will showcase collective action for the health of the ocean and waters and discuss Europe’s blue future.

Links:

• Event page

Links:

• Meeting page
• Provisional agenda