News
February 28, 2017
BALTFISH established as a permanent ministerial forum
As a conclusion to its placement under the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), BALTFISH has produced a final report.
February 23, 2017
Commission asked by NGOs to intervene and protect threatened western Baltic cod stock
Fishing for cod in the western Baltic Sea is prohibited during the spawning season, which is all of February and March. However, the German administration allowed for a new flatfish fishery with a permissible 10% cod bycatch during the closed period. Denmark then followed suit. As a result there is now increased fishing pressure on a stock that is below the lowest biomass reference point and has been overfished for many years.
February 7, 2017
Monitoring, control and enforcement of Baltic Sea discard ban to be reviewed
A joint meeting with representatives from BSAC, BALTFISH and EFCA will be held in Hamburg, Germany, March 9, to review the monitoring, control and enforcement of the landing obligation that entered into force 1 January 2015 in the Baltic Sea. Still, one out of four cod caught in the Eastern Baltic stock was thrown back dead in the sea during 2015, amounting to 18 million individuals, according to ICES[1].
February 7, 2017
STECF gives DFPO rebuff on spatial fisheries closures
Over the past year the Danish Fishermen’s Producer Organisation, DFPO, has successfully been advocating to open up the western Baltic cod fishery during February and March. Their main argument has been a lack of scientific evidence that closures has a positive effect on the fish stocks, but without providing such data. Now The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) concludes that spatial closures benefit both increase spawning stock biomass and decrease fishing mortality.
February 7, 2017
Will BSAC move towards a fair and balanced external representation?
The Baltic Sea Advisory Council has a significant imbalance in which organisations represent the Council in external fora, a FishSec review shows. The Other Interest Group (OIGs) holds 40% of the seats and yet attends only 17% of the meetings on an annual basis. By contrast the fishing industry attends 58% of meetings and the Secretariat 25%. FIshSec has proposed measures to achieve a fair and balanced representation, but the Executive committee still struggles to take the final step and come to a decision.
January 10, 2017
LIFE rejects Individual Transferable Quotas
In a recent position paper the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) have rejected Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) as a primary method of quota allocation because of the disproportionately negative impact they have on small scale coastal fishers and fishing communities.
January 4, 2017
Hypocrisy of the bottom trawling fleet
Following the quota reduction for western Baltic cod in 2017, the Fisheries Secretariat put forward a proposal to the Baltic Sea Advisory Council (BSAC). The proposal urges member states to support the most vulnerable fishers in line with Article 17 of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). However, this proposal was not supported by a single member representing the industrial fleet in the executive committee (ExCom) meeting, 15 November 2016 in Copenhagen.
January 3, 2017
Germany promises move towards a more transparent BALTFISH
Germany, holder of the BALTFISH presidency, will take initiatives to improve the transparency of the regional group. - We will contact the EU commission and ask if they can host a website for BALTFISH, said the chair Walter Dübner during a seminar at the EU Baltic Sea Strategy Forum in Stockholm.
December 22, 2016
Plan for closer cooperation between marine environment and fisheries management in the Baltic Sea
At the recent HELCOM Heads of Delegation meeting, 14-15 December, a commitment was made to initiate closer cooperation with BALTFISH.
December 19, 2016
The Fisheries Secretariat is looking to hire
Along with the North Sea Foundation and Seas at Risk, we are looking to hire an NGO Advisory Council support officer to coordinate the work of NGOs in the EU fisheries advisory councils.