Ahead of this autumn’s negotiations on fishing opportunities for 2021, the European Commission has adopted a report taking stock of the multiannual plan (MAP) for the Baltic Sea.
The Commission deems the MAP helpful in implementing the common fisheries policy, notably for setting fishing opportunities, although the Baltic Sea also faces wider challenges that affect ecosystems and fisheries.
Long-term trends that predate the MAP have a substantial impact on the evolution of the marine environment and the fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. The MAP’s implementation has decreased fishing pressure since 2016 and contributed to a moderately positive development in fisheries over the past years. Other environmental pressures beyond fisheries are having substantial effects on the health of certain stocks.
The MAP has made it easier to put in place measures to help stocks recover, and without the MAP, quotas likely would have been set at a higher level. The MAP has also enabled flexibility for healthy stocks by allowing the use of the upper FMSY range to buffer severe reductions in quotas.
“The report on the multiannual plan for the Baltic Sea clearly demonstrates the complexity of managing fish stocks in an environment with multiple and constantly evolving pressures,” said Virginijus Sinkevicius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries.
“I have called the ‘Our Baltic’ conference later this month to agree a comprehensive approach, so that we can turn around the situation in the Baltic Sea and put it on a long-term sustainable footing,” he added.
