Commission’s ban on Baltic cod fishing brought forward

Date: 17/04/03

By David Cronin

AN EMERGENCY ban on cod fishing in the Baltic Sea was imposed by the European Commission this week.

Gregor Kreuzhuber, fisheries spokesman for the Union's executive, said the decision was based on scientific advice that fishermen operating in the Baltic Sea were catching large quantities of undersized fish, which were then discarded.

The ban will run from 15 April to 31 May and will be supplementary to restrictions for cod fishing in the Baltic Sea already in place for the 1 June to 31 August period. It will apply to the catching of cod and flatfish by such nets as trawls and seines that are dragged near the bottom of the sea.

In 2001 the EU and countries affiliated to the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission agreed on new steps to ensure that nets used by vessels in that area are more discriminate, in a bid to reduce the number of juvenile fish caught. These stated that the minimum mesh sizes of 105 millimetres for trawls and seines could only continue to be used if the nets in question had a specially-designed 'window', with a mesh opening of at least 120mm, inserted into one of their ends.

But Kreuzhuber acknowledged that this action hadn't proved sufficient in combating overfishing. "Closing fisheries [for the period concerned] is completely unavoidable," he said. "If we don't, then we run the risk that the cod stocks will be completely wiped out."

Europêche, the European fisheries lobby, is dismayed with the ban. "We see the Commission again imposing new rules against the advice of fishermen," said spokesman Guy Vernaeve. He pointed out that scientific advisors to the Danish government had recommended increasing mesh sizes as an alternative to the ban.

The ban will apply to vessels from any country fishing in those parts of the Baltic Sea which are in EU waters. Because it has been taken as an emergency measure, it does not have to be voted on at the Council of Ministers.

The Commission has promised to revise the 2001 cod-recovery plan in the coming months, so that what it calls "necessary adjustments" can be in place by the time cod fishing in the Baltic Sea resumes in September.

A ban on cod fishing in the Baltic sea will run from 15 April to 31 May and will be supplementary to restrictions for cod fishing in the Baltic Sea already in place for the 1 June to 31 August period in a bid to reduce the number of juvenile fish caught and then discarded.