EU Tightens Rules To Protect Baltic Cod, Herring

November 22, 2005

Release from: Reuters

BRUSSELS - EU fisheries ministers agreed on Tuesday to streamline rules for trawling in the Baltic and give threatened species like cod and herring a chance to boost their numbers after years of over-fishing, officials said.

Cod is one of the species most at risk in Baltic waters, say scientists, who have called for a blanket fishing ban for 2006 in a stretch between Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Although such a ban is unlikely to replace the seasonal bans already in place, the 25-nation EU will work toward raising fish stocks by streamlining paperwork and tightening requirements for trawlermen whose vessels work the Baltic waters.

Driftnets will be outlawed across the Baltic from 2008.

The ministers are also expected to agree cuts to annual fishing quotas at their meeting next month. The main Baltic fisheries that are subject to total EU annual catches are herring, sprat, cod, salmon and plaice.

The revised rules, updating EU laws in place since 1998, will simplify the different minimum net sizes in use across the Baltic region and stipulate minimum sizes for catches so that as few as possible undersized fish are caught.

Time periods and geographical areas for seasonal fishing bans will also be brought into line across the Baltic region.