News

October 18, 2022

Fishing opportunities for 2023 decided in short October council – sensitive Central Baltic herring quota increased by 32%

Earlier this week, the EU Fisheries Ministers decided the fishing opportunities for the Baltic Sea in 2023. It was an unusually swift decision, announced shortly after lunch. For most of the fish stocks, the outcome of the negotiations followed the Commission’s proposal, except for sprat with a lesser decreased than proposed, and for the central … Continued


October 17, 2022

Some good news for overfished stocks in the Baltic Sea but could be too little too late

Press release from: The Fisheries Secretariat, Seas at Risk, Our Fish, Oceana, Coalition Clean Baltic, WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme and the Danish Society for Nature Conservation Baltic Sea EU member states choose to set some quotas at precautionary levels to safeguard depleted fish populations but fail to proactively protect declining herring and cod stocks in … Continued


October 14, 2022

Public art action to end overfishing in the Baltic

Next week, on the 17-18 of October, the EU Fisheries Council meeting will take place in Luxembourg, where the fishing quotas for 2023 will be negotiated.There will be a public art action outside the European Convention Centrewhere the council meeting will take place.   Photos will be available here on October 17th at 12:00 pm Video footage will be … Continued


September 28, 2022

The Nord Stream gas leak add insult to injury for Baltic cod

The heavy release of natural gas from the sabotaged pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 into the Baltic Sea could be truly fatal in an already very vulnerable ecosystem. This is the opinion of researcher Thomas Dahlgren, who has studied the effects of various emissions on marine life. Yesterday, Tuesday 27 September, there were alarm … Continued


September 27, 2022

Member States share concern for eel population in dire straits

Speaking to the Fisheries Council yesterday, Commissioner Sinkevičius was clear that “status quo is not an option” for the management of European eel, considering the critical state of the eel population and the zero catch advice. While the Member States shared his concern for the stock, suggestions on the way forward varied, with Mediterranean countries … Continued


September 27, 2022

Ecosystem Approach: EU fisheries management still dominated by single-species advice

On September 15 the EU Commission released the report ‘The implementation of ecosystem-based approaches applied to fisheries management under the Common Fisheires Policy’. The study provides a state-of-play of the implementation of EAFM in the North and Baltic Seas, Western Atlantic and Outermost Regions. The report concludes that EU fisheries management still is dominated by … Continued


September 26, 2022

NGOs call on French government to support proposals to aid recovery of European eel

Earlier today, a group of NGOs sent a joint letter to the French minister asking France to support a strengthening of the existing transitional measures agreed as part of a multi-annual plan to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in the Mediterranean. The European eel is listed as Critically … Continued


September 7, 2022

Widespread public support for further measures to protect eel – NGOs hand over petition to Commissioner Sinkevičius

Stockholm 7 September 2022; Today, a group of NGOs from the informal Eel Alliance is meeting with Commissioner Sinkevičius to hand over the Power to the Eel petition – a call for action to protect the critically endangered European eel. With over 40,000 signatures from across the EU, it shows that there is widespread public … Continued


August 25, 2022

NGOs welcome increased precaution in Commission’s proposal for Baltic Sea fishing opportunities in 2023

  Brussels 25 August 2022, On the 23rd of August the European Commission released its proposal for Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2023. Over and all, the Commission applied a precautionary stance when setting the recommendations for Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for next year which is to be commended. Many fish populations in the Baltic … Continued


July 15, 2022

Help us to #SaveBalticCod

Today we launch a new initiative to #SaveBalticCod, together with our project partners in the Return of the Cod project we call on organisations and individuals around the Baltic Sea to join us in asking EU policy makers to take protective action for cod when they decide on next years’ the fishing limits for the … Continued