EU fishing quotas in Baltic finalized

This political agreement sets the maximum quantities of fish from specific stocks that can be caught in the Baltic Sea or TACs (total allowable catches).

The reduced quotas should also allow cod stocks to recover faster than expected. The aim of the proposal was to make fisheries in the Baltic Sea environmentally and economically sustainable by managing them via scientific advice.

European Commissioner Maria Damanaki representing the EU Commission meeting in Luxemburg, hailed this move as “a great success.”

The Commission said fishery ministers from Poland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the three Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia would cut cod quotas by 9.0 percent to 61,565 tons in the east of the Baltic Sea, in line with an EU recommendation.

Western herring, Eastern cod and sprat will continue to be fished at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) levels, while Central herring, Gulf of Riga herring and Gulf of Bothnia herring aim to reach this target by 2015.

Four years ago, the European Union ministers agreed to reduce Poland's annual allowances for fishing cod in the eastern Baltic Sea as pay back for busting the quota in 2007, by 8,000 tons, according to the Commission.

At the time, Poland's fleet had too much capacity for the opportunities available to catch cod and made the situation worse with its poor control and lack of enforcement of quotas.

At one point, Poland even filed a lawsuit against the European Commission, which administers the set quotas, at the EU's highest court. (vj)