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BIG cuts in salmon catches have been agreed among EU member states as they unveiled details of the amount of fish that can be taken from the Baltic Sea next year.
Salmon catches will be reduced by 51 per cent next year, although some people had suggested they should be much higher at around 79 per cent. But cod catches will be increased.
Marek Sawicki, Minister for Rural Development in Poland, who presided over the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Luxembourg, said: "This is a very emotional point, as always.
"This has to be very balanced, because on the one hand side we have to protect the stocks of the Baltic Sea, and on the other – we have to make sure that the interests of the member states are provided for. This was a very difficult compromise.”
EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki described it as an historical achievement and thanked the Polish presidency for its cooperation for reaching a decision that will be difficult in the short term, but will pay dividends in the end.
The agreement says that in 2012 the total allowable catches (TACs) for eastern and western Baltic cod will be increased by 15 per cent and 13 per cent respectively because the long-term management plan for this species (implemented since 2008) has helped to bring it back to sustainable levels and the stocks have recovered .
The TACs for herring will be increased by just two per cent for the Gulf of Bothnia. However, according to the available scientific data, the stocks in the remaining part of the Eastern Baltic and in the Gulf of Riga have not yet sufficiently recovered. The TACs for these areas will therefore be reduced (compared with last year's quotas) by 27% and 16% respectively.
The situation of the Baltic salmon stock in this region, according to scientific data, requires immediate action, and the member states agreed that the TAC in the main basin be reduced by 51 per cent compared with last year's quotas and remain the same as last year for the Gulf of Finland stock. Some member states thought the initially proposed reduction was excessive and did not take into account fishing in inland waters.
The member states did not agree with the proposed precautionary reduction of TACs for plaice stock by 25 per cent on the grounds that there is no sufficient scientific data to identify the proper catch level. It has been agreed instead to reduce the TAC by five per cent until more accurate scientific data is available, in order to avoid the negative impact on the interests of the fishermen.
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