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Of: TT
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Photo: Olivier Hoslet / AP / TT
The EU Fisheries Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevicius. Stock photo.
The European Commission wants to cut cod fishing in the Baltic Sea another level in 2021.
Herring quotas are also falling, but still very little, according to various environmental organizations.
“Long-term sustainability for the Baltic Sea is not an option, but an obligation,” says EU Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius on the proposal for next year’s Baltic Sea fishery presented on Friday.
There, he wants to see even less cod fishing in 2021 to help stocks rebound. In the eastern Baltic, only 595 tonnes of cod will now be accepted as by-catch, while the quota in the west will be reduced by a further 11 percent. Compared to the beginning of the 2010s, the decline is dramatic: from just over 82,000 tonnes in 2014 to less than 4,000 next year.
Sinkevicius’s proposal is applauded by the environmental movement, which, however, had also wanted to see greater measures for herring fishing. Now it is proposed “only” minus 50 per cent in the western Baltic Sea and minus 36 per cent in the central parts.
“Ending overfishing is an urgent and necessary response to the climate and biodiversity crisis, and it is now up to the EU fisheries ministers to end its devastating impact on the region,” said Rebecca Hubbard of the Our lobby. Fish. Press release.
Ultimately, the fisheries ministers of the affected EU countries will decide the size of the catch quotas at a meeting in Luxembourg in October.
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