Denmark, Germany and Sweden will stop all fishing activities over highly sensitive ‘bubbling’ reefs and will also end fishing with damaging bottom gear over reefs in protected Danish waters of the Baltic Sea and Kattegat.
This follows a new EU regulation - jointly recommended by Denmark, Germany and Sweden – which bans fishing activities in 10 Natura 2000 protected sites, although the fisheries restrictions only apply to specific reef zones within these areas.
Oceana has welcomed the new measures, which are the first of their kind in the Baltic Sea.
“Managing fishing activities inside marine protected areas is a vital part of ensuring that these sites are actually able to achieve their conservation objectives,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe.
“It is highly encouraging that European governments are willing to listen to reason and invest in real protection of sensitive and ecologically important areas. We encourage them, and other EU Member States, to continue in this direction and, critically, to implement stringent enforcement and control measures to ensure that such measures are fully imposed.”
