The European Fisheries Control Agency, in cooperation with the Member States Control Expert Group for the Baltic Sea Fisheries Forum, has carried out an evaluation of compliance with the landing obligation (LO) in selected fisheries in the Baltic Sea during 2017 and 2018.
The evaluation covered plaice, in addition to the species already included in the previous analysis, which were cod, Atlantic salmon, herring and sprat.
Three different methods were implemented for evaluating compliance on the basis of last haul inspections, together with the estimates obtained from scientific bodies such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, and data compiled by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries of the Commission, and the trends in the number of suspected infringements.
Although an overall good compliance level with the LO was observed in pelagic gear herring and sprat fisheries over the study period, the trend in other demersal segments in the Baltic Sea remains worrying as there appears to be a lower level of compliance in the fixed and towed gears catching plaice, as well as towed gear fleet segments targeting cod during 2017 and 2018.
The evaluation concludes by recommending that the last haul programme continue but that alternative methods to monitor compliance, such as control observers or remote electronic monitoring, should also be considered.
An updated evaluation covering the period 2019-2020 is already in progress.
